Sunday, January 28, 2007
Republic Day Write Up: Villages
The one thing I would like to change about today’s India is the pitiful state (read socio-economic exclusion) of Indian villages.
‘Adopt a village’ – An implementable approach: There are 6.38 lakh villages in India (2001 Census). Companies, organizations small and big, high net worth individuals to start the drive. Any willing individual may also contribute. Apart from contributions via CSR, companies to also urge groups of employees to adopt villages. ‘Adopters’ to commit INR 25,000 a month per village for the next 10 years. Adopters to choose the village that’s near to their working environment and visit it once every half year for auditing and to provide guidance.
The focus areas need to be agriculture, financial inclusion, education (priority to education of women), setting up Self Help Groups, agro advisory groups and education advisory groups. The committed amount is to be spent on the functioning of advisory groups. The advisory groups will find and nurture village entrepreneurs who could collaborate with network orchestrators like ‘Drishtee’ and ‘eChoupal’. These entrepreneurs will bring ICT (Info and Communication Technology) kiosks to the village and thereby help bridge the digital divide.
These kiosks will bring agro advice, commodity prices, educational tools and banking services to the doorstep of every villager whose village is adopted. Also, the adopters can regularly connect with the village mandal leaders by means of these kiosks. With all the mothers in the village literate, in one generation, we could have a fully literate village. The agro advisory group will help monitor and tune the farming practices thereby increasing the yield of the produce. The Self Help Groups will gradually integrate with NGOs and banks. The adopters will share the responsibility of connecting the NGOs with the adopted village. The advisory groups will also encourage in getting a fair market for the small scale industry of the village.
The adopter, with help from his parent company will devise ‘Disaster Contingency Plan’ to take care of the village in times of earthquakes, flood or drought. The SHGs will inculcate saving habit in the villagers and will also urge villagers to pool money for a ‘Contingency Fund’. Such a fund will save thousands of villages (in terms of life, property) during the event of natural catastrophe.
NRIs who are keen to bring money into India for investment into sunrise businesses shall be mandated to adopt a village. They can nominate a person or an institution that will be in regular contact with the village mandal leaders.
This initiative involves Indians in India and the Indian diaspora resident abroad. Also, this model empowers the communities within the village. This gives our villages the confidence to shine from within. For the adopters, this is economic patriotism in the truest sense! A school or a marriage hall will be named after the adopter on 5th year of adoption. On completion of 10 years, the adopter (group or individual) could choose to continue for another term. The government can institute a medal of honor for this.
So, when are you adopting a village?
- Ganga
‘Adopt a village’ – An implementable approach: There are 6.38 lakh villages in India (2001 Census). Companies, organizations small and big, high net worth individuals to start the drive. Any willing individual may also contribute. Apart from contributions via CSR, companies to also urge groups of employees to adopt villages. ‘Adopters’ to commit INR 25,000 a month per village for the next 10 years. Adopters to choose the village that’s near to their working environment and visit it once every half year for auditing and to provide guidance.
The focus areas need to be agriculture, financial inclusion, education (priority to education of women), setting up Self Help Groups, agro advisory groups and education advisory groups. The committed amount is to be spent on the functioning of advisory groups. The advisory groups will find and nurture village entrepreneurs who could collaborate with network orchestrators like ‘Drishtee’ and ‘eChoupal’. These entrepreneurs will bring ICT (Info and Communication Technology) kiosks to the village and thereby help bridge the digital divide.
These kiosks will bring agro advice, commodity prices, educational tools and banking services to the doorstep of every villager whose village is adopted. Also, the adopters can regularly connect with the village mandal leaders by means of these kiosks. With all the mothers in the village literate, in one generation, we could have a fully literate village. The agro advisory group will help monitor and tune the farming practices thereby increasing the yield of the produce. The Self Help Groups will gradually integrate with NGOs and banks. The adopters will share the responsibility of connecting the NGOs with the adopted village. The advisory groups will also encourage in getting a fair market for the small scale industry of the village.
The adopter, with help from his parent company will devise ‘Disaster Contingency Plan’ to take care of the village in times of earthquakes, flood or drought. The SHGs will inculcate saving habit in the villagers and will also urge villagers to pool money for a ‘Contingency Fund’. Such a fund will save thousands of villages (in terms of life, property) during the event of natural catastrophe.
NRIs who are keen to bring money into India for investment into sunrise businesses shall be mandated to adopt a village. They can nominate a person or an institution that will be in regular contact with the village mandal leaders.
This initiative involves Indians in India and the Indian diaspora resident abroad. Also, this model empowers the communities within the village. This gives our villages the confidence to shine from within. For the adopters, this is economic patriotism in the truest sense! A school or a marriage hall will be named after the adopter on 5th year of adoption. On completion of 10 years, the adopter (group or individual) could choose to continue for another term. The government can institute a medal of honor for this.
So, when are you adopting a village?
- Ganga
Republic Day Write Up: Education
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good. -Vaclav Havel
There are ways of thinking and there are means of doing. This applies to everything that we wish to achieve but have shelved for lack of time or effort. What I believe we need to do is to educate one child at least and motivate that child to live, to create the truly wonderful thing that children are capable of creating in their lives; meaning. How often have we rolled our windows up in disdain at the shabby appearance of the boy selling flowers at the traffic signal or muttered something about pity or worse yet asked him, “Aye yeh sab kya karta hai, school jana chahiye!” Don’t even bother answering that. But give it a thought.
In other episodes, we may have very graciously given clothes our children have grown out of to the children we see walking around close to the building. We believe we have done our good deed for the day and in some way improved their lives. But how do these mindless acts of so-called charity contribute to their lives? DO you really believe that these children care how they’re dressed? Well maybe in a superficial sense they do but what they really want is to be acknowledged as a success story, not a statistic! They want to be known by their names, live in houses like you and I, have a family to live with. That’s what they really want and need.
So why can’t we with all our haloed existences provide this kind of environment to one child in India? All we’re talking about is some time and even lesser money. But a lot a will; will to not give up in the face of the child’s resistance to your efforts to make contact with him or her. Most children by this time in their lives have seen things more scary than people like us will see in a lifetime. They develop a natural mistrust of people and refuse to believe that good does indeed exist somewhere in the world and that not everyone has ulterior motives behind giving them an opportunity to do something.
The statistics with reference to destitute children in India belong to the Stone Age. While one may endeavor to do something positive for these children, one doesn’t even know the extent of this problem. Thankfully, child labor laws have been revised to extend childhood to the age of 18. But this has also been done in a fashion that has affected the children adversely as many of them were then listed by employers as illegal and hence paid much less. The environment in which Indian children live,learn and grow frustrates their attempts to have equal access to education. Initiatives like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan taken by the Government have not made much of a difference. The difference will not be seen overnight. But why should I not start by educating my maid’s child!
- Pradnya Surve
There are ways of thinking and there are means of doing. This applies to everything that we wish to achieve but have shelved for lack of time or effort. What I believe we need to do is to educate one child at least and motivate that child to live, to create the truly wonderful thing that children are capable of creating in their lives; meaning. How often have we rolled our windows up in disdain at the shabby appearance of the boy selling flowers at the traffic signal or muttered something about pity or worse yet asked him, “Aye yeh sab kya karta hai, school jana chahiye!” Don’t even bother answering that. But give it a thought.
In other episodes, we may have very graciously given clothes our children have grown out of to the children we see walking around close to the building. We believe we have done our good deed for the day and in some way improved their lives. But how do these mindless acts of so-called charity contribute to their lives? DO you really believe that these children care how they’re dressed? Well maybe in a superficial sense they do but what they really want is to be acknowledged as a success story, not a statistic! They want to be known by their names, live in houses like you and I, have a family to live with. That’s what they really want and need.
So why can’t we with all our haloed existences provide this kind of environment to one child in India? All we’re talking about is some time and even lesser money. But a lot a will; will to not give up in the face of the child’s resistance to your efforts to make contact with him or her. Most children by this time in their lives have seen things more scary than people like us will see in a lifetime. They develop a natural mistrust of people and refuse to believe that good does indeed exist somewhere in the world and that not everyone has ulterior motives behind giving them an opportunity to do something.
The statistics with reference to destitute children in India belong to the Stone Age. While one may endeavor to do something positive for these children, one doesn’t even know the extent of this problem. Thankfully, child labor laws have been revised to extend childhood to the age of 18. But this has also been done in a fashion that has affected the children adversely as many of them were then listed by employers as illegal and hence paid much less. The environment in which Indian children live,learn and grow frustrates their attempts to have equal access to education. Initiatives like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan taken by the Government have not made much of a difference. The difference will not be seen overnight. But why should I not start by educating my maid’s child!
- Pradnya Surve
Republic Day Write Up: Health Care
One Thing I would like to change about India is to provide universal access “Health for All” irrespective of age, class, gender and race. Health reach is pathetic in our country. People die for want of simple operations like young children dying of appendicitis which is a simple curable disease, women suffering from excessive bleeding for want of simple uterus removal operation, old men suffering from hernia which is again a simple operative procedure.
Presently there is Inequitable Distribution of Healthcare services. They are not there which needs the most and even if they are there, it is out of reach of many. Even if a middle class person has to be hospitalized it shakes him because of the cost incurred. It is estimated that hospitalization is responsible for pushing 5-8% of people below poverty line every year. The need for today’s healthcare is reducing the cost so that it is available each and everyone in the country. We are still fighting with diseases like Tuberculosis, Kala Azar etc which are unheard of in many of the countries. Despite many Pulse Polio Programs we are still struggling with Polio.
And with this we are facing new “lifestyle disorder” like Diabetes, Hypertension and some deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS. India is second largest diabetic population in the world and with this rate it would surpass all the figures. Coming to the healthcare spend by the government. India spends just 0.9-1.2% of GDP on healthcare and if we compare the same with leading countries like U.S. (5-6%) U.K. (6.4%) it appears like tiny dwarf. Even if the primary healthcare centers are there, there is no doctor to treat patients. And more than that Health doesn’t mean just being free from any disease, it means attaining best of physical, mental, spiritual and social health. It should not be only the survival but to live the life to the fullest. So for India to really prosper (along with double digit growth rate) we really have to do something about the Healthcare model in India.
- Dr. Anshumaan Yadava
Presently there is Inequitable Distribution of Healthcare services. They are not there which needs the most and even if they are there, it is out of reach of many. Even if a middle class person has to be hospitalized it shakes him because of the cost incurred. It is estimated that hospitalization is responsible for pushing 5-8% of people below poverty line every year. The need for today’s healthcare is reducing the cost so that it is available each and everyone in the country. We are still fighting with diseases like Tuberculosis, Kala Azar etc which are unheard of in many of the countries. Despite many Pulse Polio Programs we are still struggling with Polio.
And with this we are facing new “lifestyle disorder” like Diabetes, Hypertension and some deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS. India is second largest diabetic population in the world and with this rate it would surpass all the figures. Coming to the healthcare spend by the government. India spends just 0.9-1.2% of GDP on healthcare and if we compare the same with leading countries like U.S. (5-6%) U.K. (6.4%) it appears like tiny dwarf. Even if the primary healthcare centers are there, there is no doctor to treat patients. And more than that Health doesn’t mean just being free from any disease, it means attaining best of physical, mental, spiritual and social health. It should not be only the survival but to live the life to the fullest. So for India to really prosper (along with double digit growth rate) we really have to do something about the Healthcare model in India.
- Dr. Anshumaan Yadava
Republic Day Write Up: Cities
India today symbolizes a heterogeneous mix of the India that was 100 years back and the India that would be 100 years ahead in the future. This divide well portrayed by the “India Poised” campaign is one of the major hurdles towards India’s leap to a fully developed nation. This divide is a legacy of a system neglected for years and counteracted by the will of people who wanted to grow and make a mark in this world. With the western nations reaching saturation, India stands at the crossroads with a promise to lead the world on the back of its young working population and the intellectual capital generated over the years. The divide can be bridged only when the growth engines of India i.e cities have good living conditions and all the citizens get easy access to good medical facilities, desired education, well connected transport network, open spaces, clean environment and good housing and sanitation.
Thus my desire is to change the face of all the Indian cities from stinking, slum ridden and choked places to an open and clean environment so that divide between the prosperous areas and the slum pockets is automatically bridged. This will also ensure that growth and prosperity does not happen at the cost of basic values of human beings. The task to bring about this change will start with the reorganization of the municipal corporations of these cities. These municipal corporations would be converted to a corporate setup where both public and private parties have equal stake. The democratic approach will consist of industry professionals who will perform key decision making while representation from different parts of the city will be done by the existing municipal councilors. The revamped structure will actually break the slumlord-builder-politician nexus and bring down the parallel but shady economy of the city.
The corporate setup will ensure that proper developmental goals are set and channeling of funds happens in a fair and transparent manner. The next step will involve creation of accountability and information system for the civic services such as law and order, utilities, and the local government itself. The information system will enable availability of information to the people and root out corruption and procrastination on the part of bureaucrats. The future of these cities can only be sustained if they emerge as major economic hubs. Therefore, a parallel initiative would be to connect these cities by creating world class railway terminals, airports and business districts. The above initiatives can be sustained through a mass awareness campaign among the people about the proper use of civic amenities and awareness of equal rights over these places. The development of these cities would be incomplete without social development hence special schemes have to be launched uplift the urban outcasts. Today’s cities are also the centers of the most polluting industries. These centers need to be relocated and youth to be retrained for alternative income sources. This does not mean doling out subsidies but it means constructing clean and open parks and providing good civic amenities in the vicinity which will bring them on equal standing with the other members of the society. Imagine having 35 full developed and self contained cities in India and the whole migration to major metropolis will automatically be stopped. This will reduce the pressure on major cities and also make them attractive tourist and business destinations on the global map.
- Vishal Jain, PGDM 206
Thus my desire is to change the face of all the Indian cities from stinking, slum ridden and choked places to an open and clean environment so that divide between the prosperous areas and the slum pockets is automatically bridged. This will also ensure that growth and prosperity does not happen at the cost of basic values of human beings. The task to bring about this change will start with the reorganization of the municipal corporations of these cities. These municipal corporations would be converted to a corporate setup where both public and private parties have equal stake. The democratic approach will consist of industry professionals who will perform key decision making while representation from different parts of the city will be done by the existing municipal councilors. The revamped structure will actually break the slumlord-builder-politician nexus and bring down the parallel but shady economy of the city.
The corporate setup will ensure that proper developmental goals are set and channeling of funds happens in a fair and transparent manner. The next step will involve creation of accountability and information system for the civic services such as law and order, utilities, and the local government itself. The information system will enable availability of information to the people and root out corruption and procrastination on the part of bureaucrats. The future of these cities can only be sustained if they emerge as major economic hubs. Therefore, a parallel initiative would be to connect these cities by creating world class railway terminals, airports and business districts. The above initiatives can be sustained through a mass awareness campaign among the people about the proper use of civic amenities and awareness of equal rights over these places. The development of these cities would be incomplete without social development hence special schemes have to be launched uplift the urban outcasts. Today’s cities are also the centers of the most polluting industries. These centers need to be relocated and youth to be retrained for alternative income sources. This does not mean doling out subsidies but it means constructing clean and open parks and providing good civic amenities in the vicinity which will bring them on equal standing with the other members of the society. Imagine having 35 full developed and self contained cities in India and the whole migration to major metropolis will automatically be stopped. This will reduce the pressure on major cities and also make them attractive tourist and business destinations on the global map.
- Vishal Jain, PGDM 206
Saturday, January 27, 2007
A visit to Bombay House
Mr R.Gopalkrishnan talked about globalization and how it is impacting businesses in today's world. According to him, there are three most important things for a sustainable business -
1. Intellectual Property
2. Economic VAlue
3. Context
So, business is a way of constantly creating new context. That is to create a market where your products can be welcomed even in long term. He also gave beautiful examples of how some of the big FMCGs sustained their business over a period by creating a right product and evaluating the right context.
This is the era of consolidation. Various businesses which moved far ahead and created various products with the advance of technology found it difficult to sustain in the market because they lost the context which they thought would exist for ever. But context kept on changing. Acquisitions and mergers are happening now a days to expand business in a global arena. So, the entire global has become the context.
According to Mr Gopalkrishnan, there are two modes of acquistions:
1. Prescriptive - where a company is forced to change its existence and behave according the the owner/major share holder
2. Adaptive - where the acquired company finds its own space and settles down. Coke-Thumbs up example beautifully explains this.
While a balanced approach to both the strategies above is a good solution, various factors like demography, geography, culture and core values play substantial role in choosing which one to adopt for the M & A strategy. Finally, according to him, businesses grows because of people's chemistry.
Cheers,
Manas Nimitt Sahu
Parivartan 07 @ IIT-D: Selection
Team Anveshan comprising of
MyFirm is a 2-day competition that tests the manager-entrepreneur's ability to effectively manage the entire value chain from sourcing inputs to product development to marketing finished goods to handling the finances to planning for human resources. All this is beyond any individual effort, and calls for a team-like approach in management. MyFirm tests the entrepreneur's willingness to withhold his personal agenda in favour of team management. MyFirm demands that he is able to read beyond easily visible data and see more than what the competition does. Finally, effective teams in MyFirm will take decisions to manage the present while planning for its future, without ignoring one view for the other.
MyFirm will be conducted by MANTIS. Dr Vinod Dumblekar owns MANTIS,
- Bistrobanter, New Delhi
Friday, January 26, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Republic Day Write-Up contest: Deadline 235959 today!
Doston,
The deadline is extended to 23:59:59 hrs tonite... Come on, put on your thinking hats! Send your entries to sports_cultcom.mit03@spjimr.ernet.in asap!!
The deadline is extended to 23:59:59 hrs tonite... Come on, put on your thinking hats! Send your entries to sports_cultcom.mit03@spjimr.ernet.in asap!!
Kamala
From Kamala’s endearing artless simplicity to Sarita’s doomed resignation, to Jai Singh’s chauvinistic bravado to Kakasaheb’s tired wisdom to Kamla Bai’s in-the-face repartees to the way things are , the cast of SPJIMR’s theater group GASP (Guild of Actors at SP) brought Vijay Tendulkar’s play ‘Kamala’ to life on Sunday evening at the SPJIMR audi. The GASP production of Kamala was brilliantly directed by Anu Mishra and Jyoti Prakash.
Kamala is an indictment of male society in which women are mere stepping-stones in a man’s quest for power and fame. For those unfamiliar with the background of the play, it was based on journalist Ashwini Sarin's path-breaking investigative series in 1981 on the flesh trade in Madhya Pradesh. Sarin ‘bought’ the woman, Kamala, for Rs. 2,300. The journalist then wrote a series of articles exposing the prostitution trade and involvement of bigwigs in politics and police in early 1981. The original play was scripted and directed by Tendulkar and staged 150 times in 32 cities and in seven languages and it was made into a film with Deepti Naval playing the role of the tribal woman Kamala. Vijay Tendulkar’s works have a crucial rural character (Sakharam in Sakharam Binder, Lakhaniya in Aaakrosh, Kamala in Kamala etc.).
The play, very sensitively, brought out the helplessness of oppressed women, and equally of women in high society, who, on the surface, seem to have it all. Kamala mouths the most poignant line in the play when she asks Sarita, “And how much did he buy you for?” A shocked Sarita comes down from the sofa and sits on the floor…next to Kamala. What remains on the wall behind sofa is the shadow of Sarita. Subtle and meaningful. Great lighting by Divya Anand and Jay Tharoor. Kudos to Daisy D’Souza, Amshuman, Priya and Raji for excellent co-ordination and stage management! The sound design by Archish Mathe complemented the very many layers of emotions of the characters. Archana Iyer and Pragya Chaturvedi did a commendable job with the costumes.
Tejaswi turned in a balanced performance as the hapless Kamala. Sameer Walzade was brilliant as Jai Singh, the brash journo. So powerful was his performance that the character of Jai Singh evinced a marathi ‘hai’ in the minds of the audience. Meghana Kedar as Sarita, brought out the patience and frustration of a wife who has to hide her identity and intelligence in her husband’s shadow. The audience that broke into spontaneous applause every time Kamla bai came into the scene was clearly charmed by Kirti Ramnath’s portrayal of Kamla bai. Abhijeet Awasthi essayed the role of Kakasaheb who plays the perfect foil to Jai Sing’s brash bravado. Yogesh, in the role of Jai Singh’s reporter friend, shines in the scene (drunken) after the press conference. Sandy Cashyap was the enigmatic voice of Menon on the phone.
What was in Sarita's mind at the end of Kamala? Guess Sarita was just awakened and she is going through self-realization. She is now determined and confident - she knows she will leave Jai Singh because she will not put up with the situation any longer. However, because of her tradition and her sympathy for her husband who just lost his job and is in despair, she will stay with him for the time being. May be. Just may be.
I would not mind traveling all the way to Phaltan to catch a re-run of the play! Would happily buy my ticket too.
Ganga
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
SPJIMR Sports Day - pgdSuMMIT
It was a day of achievements on the track n field for PGDSM MIT 03! Hearty congrats to everybody!
Events & winners:
1) 100m sprint | Boys | Gold - Saurabh Mantri, Silver - Sonaal Bangera
2) 200m run | Boys | Gold - Saurabh Mantri, Silver - Sonaal Bangera, Bronze - Rachit
Relay | Boys
3) * Gold - Major Bappaditya Kolay, Saurabh Mantri, Rachit Agarwal, Sonaal Bangera |
4) * Bronze - Adithya K, Tarun Gupta, Amit Kumar, Chandan Chatterjee
5) Shot Put | Boys | Gold - Arvind, Bronze - Amit Kumar
6) Javelin Throw | Boys | Silver - Abhishek Ranjan
7) Javelin Throw | Girls| Bronze - Marietta Azavado
8) Long Jump | Boys | Gold - Major Bappaditya, Silver - Saurabh, Bronze - Nitin K
9) Long Jump | Girls| Bronze - Marietta Azavado
10) Mixed Relay | Bronze - Tarun, Rachit, Navneet, Delzin
- Bistrobanter - Bhavans Main Ground
Events & winners:
1) 100m sprint | Boys | Gold - Saurabh Mantri, Silver - Sonaal Bangera
2) 200m run | Boys | Gold - Saurabh Mantri, Silver - Sonaal Bangera, Bronze - Rachit
Relay | Boys
3) * Gold - Major Bappaditya Kolay, Saurabh Mantri, Rachit Agarwal, Sonaal Bangera |
4) * Bronze - Adithya K, Tarun Gupta, Amit Kumar, Chandan Chatterjee
5) Shot Put | Boys | Gold - Arvind, Bronze - Amit Kumar
6) Javelin Throw | Boys | Silver - Abhishek Ranjan
7) Javelin Throw | Girls| Bronze - Marietta Azavado
8) Long Jump | Boys | Gold - Major Bappaditya, Silver - Saurabh, Bronze - Nitin K
9) Long Jump | Girls| Bronze - Marietta Azavado
10) Mixed Relay | Bronze - Tarun, Rachit, Navneet, Delzin
- Bistrobanter - Bhavans Main Ground
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
DOCC - International Leprosy Union, Pune
DOCC Project: International Leprosy Union, Pune
Creating Awareness and Generating Sponsorships for Children Living under the Shadow of Leprosy.
Team - Rakesh Menon, Rohit Upadhyay, Pramod Kulal
The image of leprosy has undergone a dramatic change in the last 20 years. Today leprosy is completely curable thanks to Multi Drug Therapy (MDT).
Yet, we find helpless communities of once leprosy affected people living far away from the mainstream society. They still have a lot of sufferings and have to face ostracism and stigma. Ever wondered why? Well… Are we responsible in some way for their present state?
To a large extent – the answer would be “Yes”. Reason being, we are totally unaware about Leprosy, its causes or the myths and realities related to the disease. This project has sensitized us to all above mentioned facts. Today we know that leprosy is the least infectious disease, that it’s not hereditary and is definitely not the wrath of God or the punishment for past sins!
Under these circumstances, the children living under the shadow of leprosy suffer the most. These are children who themselves may not be affected with leprosy but whose parents had been. Though their parents have been cured of leprosy they still have to live in these communities for no fault of theirs.
It is the needs of such children that the project aims to cater to with the help of corporate group level and individual sponsorships. We prepared a movie, a poster for appeal and gave presentations to several corporate groups. To spread awareness, we used the power of the internet through a blog (http:/ilupuneblog.blogspot.com/) and extensive mail campaigns. We also proposed the idea of using a mascot “Gyanu” and cartoon strips in regional languages to reach out to a wider audience.
Moving ahead the mission can be accomplished only with active participation from each one of us. So let’s come together, spread awareness and walk the last mile towards giving leprosy a human face…
Weblinks: http:/ilupuneblog.blogspot.com/
Cheers,
Rakesh, Rohit and Pramod
Creating Awareness and Generating Sponsorships for Children Living under the Shadow of Leprosy.
Team - Rakesh Menon, Rohit Upadhyay, Pramod Kulal
The image of leprosy has undergone a dramatic change in the last 20 years. Today leprosy is completely curable thanks to Multi Drug Therapy (MDT).
Yet, we find helpless communities of once leprosy affected people living far away from the mainstream society. They still have a lot of sufferings and have to face ostracism and stigma. Ever wondered why? Well… Are we responsible in some way for their present state?
To a large extent – the answer would be “Yes”. Reason being, we are totally unaware about Leprosy, its causes or the myths and realities related to the disease. This project has sensitized us to all above mentioned facts. Today we know that leprosy is the least infectious disease, that it’s not hereditary and is definitely not the wrath of God or the punishment for past sins!
Under these circumstances, the children living under the shadow of leprosy suffer the most. These are children who themselves may not be affected with leprosy but whose parents had been. Though their parents have been cured of leprosy they still have to live in these communities for no fault of theirs.
It is the needs of such children that the project aims to cater to with the help of corporate group level and individual sponsorships. We prepared a movie, a poster for appeal and gave presentations to several corporate groups. To spread awareness, we used the power of the internet through a blog (http:/ilupuneblog.blogspot.com/) and extensive mail campaigns. We also proposed the idea of using a mascot “Gyanu” and cartoon strips in regional languages to reach out to a wider audience.
Moving ahead the mission can be accomplished only with active participation from each one of us. So let’s come together, spread awareness and walk the last mile towards giving leprosy a human face…
Weblinks: http:/ilupuneblog.blogspot.com/
Cheers,
Rakesh, Rohit and Pramod
Monday, January 15, 2007
ART OF INNOVATION - Guy Kawasaki steals the show
It was at the end of a very exciting day. The clock touched 8:30 in the evening. A very long day sped past filling us with the memories of splendid articulation from Mr. Satish Duryodhan , VP Hexaware. But the thrill was yet to be unveiled by the eminent guest faculty. With spontaneous emphasis on 'Innovation', Mr. Duryodhan gave a sneek preview of the thoughts of Guy Kawasaki:
- Create the next curve
- Don’t worry. Be crappy
- Churn, baby churn
- Be prepared to break down barriers
- Make evangelists
- Eat like a bird and poop like an elephant
- Think digital, act analog
- Never ask people to do something which you would never do
- Don’t let the bozos grind you down
Each tip, explained with pertinent examples and great sense of humor made it a refreshing edification for the future managers of innovation. No prizes for guessing why Guy Kawasaki created a lot of fan-followers in our batch.
Cheers,
Anamitra
Virginia Tech Contact Session - Dr.Steven Sheetz
It is a great pleasure for the students and faculty of PGDSM MIT to extend a warm welcome to Dr. Steven Sheetz. Dr. Sheetz is the Associate Professor of Accounting and Information Systems , Pamplin College of Business , Virginia Tech. He will be here with us from 15.01.07 to 19.01.07. Dr. Sheetz will be teaching ‘ Advanced Database Management Systems’.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Media Coverage: SPJIMR's PGDSM-MIT Students' achievements
Once again PGDSM MIT batch 3 of SPJIMR is in the news. The fruition of their efforts has been showcased in CoolAvenues.com and Google News. Here is the snapshot of the same. For more details please read through the links given below.
http://www.coolavenues.com/bschools/index.php3
A glimpse of the article: 
Your best wishes are always required for us to go on further.
http://www.coolavenues.com/bschools/index.php3
The news is also linked from the home page of coolavenues site.
You can also check Google News for listing of the same.
You can also check Google News for listing of the same.
A glimpse of the article:
Your best wishes are always required for us to go on further.
Cheers,
Sukanya.
Tomar shur amar shur..
Special reporter of bistrobanter, Chandan Chatterjee covers a conversation between two people travelling in Mainline Barddhaman Local of Kolkatta..
Scene: A lady and a middle aged man talking about India, showing tremendous love for their nation.
Lady: I see US of A's hand in making Kalam the president.
Bhadralok : (as perplexed as one would be) US ?
Lady :(Showing all her geo-political intelligence and knowledge) Yes! Kalam was about to make the world's biggest bomb which woud have been a threat to the US. So, they got Kalam to be chosen as the president.
Bhadralok: He can build a bomb even now.
Lady: No! Since he is a president he has become very busy and he has no time to build a bomb. All his time is spent on visiting other nations. US has, therefore, become the safest place to live on earth!
Cheers,
Chandan Chatterjee, Bistrobanter - Kolkatta
Friday, January 12, 2007
Mission XLRI Ensemble - All the best!
Folks! Join me in wishing Soham, Parijat, Shireen, Sonaal and Rahul a nice journey and
all the very best!!
Cheers,
Ganga
all the very best!!
Cheers,
Ganga
Thursday, January 11, 2007
IIML Manfest - Selection (Nirvaan)
Parijat Kumar, Sudhir Jena and Rohit Upadhyay (team ‘The Innovators’) have made it to the final round of Nirvaan - the B Plan contest of IIML Manfest.The final round will be held at IIML on 20th Jan 2007. Congrats guys!
- Bistrobanter, Lucknow
L'Oréal e-Strat Challenge – into Round 3 (Moksha)
Parag Mukherjee, Souvik Das (PGP1) and Rohit Upadhyay have cleared ROUND 2 of L'Oréal e-Strat Challenge and are now going to fight it out in ROUND 3. They are one of the 1500 teams that have been shortlisted out of a whopping 15,000 teams that had registered world wide. All the best for round 3 folks!
- Bistrobanter, Canada
Monday, January 08, 2007
IIMA Amaethon - Waitlist (Shodh)
Team PGDSM-MIT (Gangadhar Basavalingappa aka Ganga) has been waitlisted for the final round of SHODH, paper presentation contest of IIMA Amaethon '06. The topic of the paper was "Devising Marketing and Distribution Strategy for State Bank of India to bring about Financial Inclusion in the Rural Market".
The other teams in the final round are IIMA (3 teams), IRMA, NIAM, MANAGE, IIFT and MICA.
- Bistrobanter, Amdavad
2nd place, IIMC Intaglio - State of Affairs
Flash news folks! Pallavi Agarwal & Ambar Sharma (team Aarohi) have stood second in the STATE OF AFFAIRS event at IIMC INTAGLIO!! . Hearty congrats!
- Bistrobanter, Kolkatta
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Whatever it TECS
Rakesh Menon and I wanted to share with you all about the TECS week we are attending. Today is the 4th day and we are learning a lot. Tomorrow is the last day for it. TCS Excellence in Computer Science (TECS) Week 2007 is being conducted from January 3-7, 2007 at Tata Research Development and Design Centre (TRDDC), Pune.
TECS Week is supported by TRDDC and United Nations University, International Institute for Software Technology (UNU/IIST). Indian Association for Research in Computer Science (IARCS) provides support for selected academic candidates from India.
In TECS Week 2007, a panel of internationally renowned experts will provide overview of the latest techniques in data-intensive computing. The URL for the same is: http://www.tcs-trddc.com/tecs/
Cheers,
Javed and Rakesh, Bistrobanter - Pune
TECS Week is supported by TRDDC and United Nations University, International Institute for Software Technology (UNU/IIST). Indian Association for Research in Computer Science (IARCS) provides support for selected academic candidates from India.
In TECS Week 2007, a panel of internationally renowned experts will provide overview of the latest techniques in data-intensive computing. The URL for the same is: http://www.tcs-trddc.com/tecs/
Cheers,
Javed and Rakesh, Bistrobanter - Pune
L'Oréal e-Strat Challenge - Selection (Episode 7)
Somansh Bansal, Gaurav Kakkar and Abhishek Jain have made it to round 2 of L'Oréal e-Strat Challenge. Team TEAMSPJIMR is one of the 1500 teams that have been shortlisted out of a whopping 15000 teams that had registered world wide. Way to go folks!
Global Results page URL:
http://www.e-strat.loreal.com/download/estrat_round1_mba.pdf
- Bistrobanter, Canada
L'Oréal e-Strat Challenge - Selection (Episode 7)
Souvik Das (PGP1), Parag Mukherjee and Rohit Upadhyay have made it to round 2 of L'Oréal e-Strat Challenge. Team Moksha is one of the 1500 teams that have been shortlisted out of a whopping 15000 teams that had registered world wide. Way to go folks!
Global Results page URL:
http://www.e-strat.loreal.com/download/estrat_round1_mba.pdf
- Bistrobanter, Canada
Friday, January 05, 2007
XLRI Ensemble - Finalists (Concept 2 Creative)
Shireen Shaikh, Sonaal Bangera and Rahul Jain (team ADvitiya) have made it to the final round of 'What's the Big Idea?' event of XLRI Ensemble. The finals will be held at XLRI campus on 13-14 Jan '07. The other teams in the fray are IIMA, IIMI (2 teams), IIMB, FMS, MICA and ISB.
http://www.ensemble-xlri.com/concept_2_creative_Stage1Results.pdf
Cheers,
Bistrobanter, Jamshedpur
Stage I: Team Advitiya submitted a comprehensive marketing plan consisting of a step-by-step process of how they would market our very own national game, Hockey to the Indians.
Stage II:The Ogilvy team will conduct the next stage at XLRI. The shortlisted teams would be exposed to 4 Ogilvy brands by the Ogilvy team.The teams would then have to come up with the future strategy for each of these brands. Once this has been done, each team would also have to come up with an ad campaign and the teams would be asked to come forth and present with the next big idea on the brand.
http://www.ensemble-xlri.com/concept_2_creative_Stage1Results.pdf
Cheers,
Bistrobanter, Jamshedpur
Dabur Navigator - Finalists (Regional Round)
Team 'Anveshan' comprising of Rahul Menon (PGDSM MIT02), Somansh Bansal and Gaurav Kakkar has been short listed for the Regional Round of 'Navigator' -the strategy based case contest held by Dabur. Congrats guys!!The presentation will be held on 11th Jan '07 at Mumbai.
- Bistrobanter, Mumbai
XLRI Ensemble - Finalists (Lekh)
Sohamnath Mannem and Parijat Kumar (team Young Consultants) have progressed to the final round of LEKH paper presentation contest of XLRI ENSEMBLE. The topic was 'The upcoming service sector fields'.
The other teams in the fray are IIMB, FMS, XLRI and IIFT. The final round is going to be held at XLRI, Jamshedpur on 13-14 Jan, 2007. Congrats guys!
Results page URL: http://www.ensemble-xlri.com/applications/communication/noticeboard/22.pdf
- Bistrobanter, JamshedpurIIMC Intaglio - Finalists (State of Affairs)
Pallavi Agarwal & Ambar Sharma have progressed to the final round of STATE OF AFFAIRS event at IIMC INTAGLIO!! . Hearty congrats!
This is a simulation game designed to test service-oriented supply chain management principles and whether participants can use them effectively. The Beer Game has for long been the standard for teaching complex principles of supply chain management in a finished good inventory supply chain. Services, however, typically cannot hold inventory. Backlog of services can only be managed through capacity adjustments. This game revolves around the adjustment of two parameters - backlog and human resource capacity adjustment costs. The winner shall be the team that manages to minimize these two costs while satisfying the given constraints.
Round 1: In this round participants were tested on the basis of their understanding of Supply Chain Management and Operations. It was in the form of a quiz with 40 questions. Round 2 will be held on 6th of jan, 2007.
- Bistrobanter, Kolkatta
This is a simulation game designed to test service-oriented supply chain management principles and whether participants can use them effectively. The Beer Game has for long been the standard for teaching complex principles of supply chain management in a finished good inventory supply chain. Services, however, typically cannot hold inventory. Backlog of services can only be managed through capacity adjustments. This game revolves around the adjustment of two parameters - backlog and human resource capacity adjustment costs. The winner shall be the team that manages to minimize these two costs while satisfying the given constraints.
Round 1: In this round participants were tested on the basis of their understanding of Supply Chain Management and Operations. It was in the form of a quiz with 40 questions. Round 2 will be held on 6th of jan, 2007.
- Bistrobanter, Kolkatta
Thursday, January 04, 2007
PGDSM MIT 03’s Achievements: Jun-Dec '06
Achievements:
- First place, Managing Nations case contest (Primary education), IIM-A Confluence 2006 (6 participants)
- Third place, Managing Nations case contest (Primary education), IIM-A Confluence 2006 (6 participants)
- First place, Gurukul event (Ops), XIMB Xpressions 2006 (2 participants)
- First place, Chakravyuh event , XIMB Xpressions 2006 (2 participants)
- Second place, Chakravyuh event , XIMB Xpressions 2006 (2 participants)
- Third place, Kurukshetra event , XIMB Xpressions 2006 (2 participants)
- First place, POWER UP event (B-plan contest) at FMS FIESTA 2006 (2 participants)
- Third place, Findamental event, IIM-A Confluence 2006
- Finalists, Managing Nations case contest (Gujarat Gas), IIM-A Confluence 2006 (3 participants)
- Finalists of Bankex event at FMS FIESTA 2006 (2 participants).
- Finalists of Nascence event at FMS FIESTA 2006 (2 participants).
- Finalists of Big companies Big mistakes event at FMS FIESTA 2006 (3 participants).
- Finalists of Genesis event at FMS FIESTA 2006 (2 participants).
- Finalists of Measure for Measure event, SCMHRD Neev -06 (2 participants)
- Finalist, TAPMI young business leader contest-2006 (1 participant)
- Semi-finalists, B Plan competition, GE Day (5 participants)
- Semi-finalists, Dabur’s Navigator contest (next round results awaited)
- Semi-finalists, L'Oreal eStrat contest
- First place, Inductis case study competition, SPJIMR (5 participants)
- First place, eSwayer event, Nimitt ’06 (1 participant)
Competition:
IIM – ABCLIK, XLRI, MDI, FMS, IIFT, ISB, XIMB, NUS, SAID,
Contest Streams:
Systems, Marketing, Operations, B Plans, Strategy Consulting, Case Contests, Business simulation games
Ganga
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Access to Virginia Tech libraries
Greetings from ITCOM!!
After a series of interactions with the Virginia Tech IT Infrastructure Dept and our own Computer Centre, we've finally managed to get access to the online resources of Virginia Tech's university libraries. You can access the resources at the following url: https://ezproxy.lib.vt.edu:2443/login
this link is now part of the links in 'at GW 1' category on bistrobanter!
this link is now part of the links in 'at GW 1' category on bistrobanter!
Login with your PID and password. There is a huge collection of online articles and databases available. Please do note that the 5 MB download restriction holds good even for this site and for larger files you'll have to visit CC for downloading.
Happy reading!
Cheers,
Maulik
Cheers,
Maulik
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