Passionate About India: The American Dream: Rajat Gupta symbolises this mo...:
Rajat Gupta has hogged headlines over the past twenty odd years – he has championed that art. While his educational background without doubt has been exemplary, his consulting advisory was not necessarily so. McKinsey & Co.’s way of focus on core competency – and divesting from diversification strategies – necessarily has been one of the most debatable strategies that he represented during his tenure at the firm. Actually, it is one of those strategies that have given consultants the reputation of being people who take your watch and tell you the time; there is no strategy in this strategy. McKinsey’s consultants, of course, have championed such strategies and theories which are arguably of no great significance or research. I’m reminded of the book In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman – two McKinsey consultants – written on the basis of research that Tom Peters himself later admitted was concocted. Rajat’s stint post McKinsey has been clearly far more controversial due to the more obvious frauds. And now that he has been found guilty of insider trading, the Indian media in particular is hell-bent on portraying it as an example of a perfect ‘American Dream’ gone sour. The question is, is that so?
Read More: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/06/american-dream-rajat-gupta-symbolises.html
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Typos: WILL YOU DANCE WITH ME ON THE CRYSTAL BALL?
Typos: WILL YOU DANCE WITH ME ON THE CRYSTAL BALL?:
A shared vision of the future means the world of my tomorrow and the world of her tomorrow should at least be neighbours if not the same. If I want to live with my parents, in the middle of a grassland in Botswana, and love quoting Byron in the bedroom, it just wouldn’t work, no matter how much we might be attracted to each other if she wants to live independently, close to a mall, but never away from Delhi, and hates poetry and prefers reading the Economic Times while I’m celebrating Byron. Yes, I can hear you mumble the dreaded C-word, a bonafide love killer – compromises.
Read More: http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/06/will-you-dance-with-me-on-crystal-ball.html
A shared vision of the future means the world of my tomorrow and the world of her tomorrow should at least be neighbours if not the same. If I want to live with my parents, in the middle of a grassland in Botswana, and love quoting Byron in the bedroom, it just wouldn’t work, no matter how much we might be attracted to each other if she wants to live independently, close to a mall, but never away from Delhi, and hates poetry and prefers reading the Economic Times while I’m celebrating Byron. Yes, I can hear you mumble the dreaded C-word, a bonafide love killer – compromises.
Read More: http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/06/will-you-dance-with-me-on-crystal-ball.html
COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: WATER WOES
COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: WATER WOES:
In Bangalore, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has floated tenders thrice in last 3 months for water tanker operators to meet with an impossible outcome viz. the stark statistics of zero response! A water supplier at Koramangala area earns approximately Rs. 4,000 per tanker, which is much profitable commerce compared to the government’s offer. BWSSB’s flat rate is Rs.1,650 per day per tanker – way below the private operator’s rate, who at times are found to charge anywhere between Rs.6,000 to Rs.8,000 per day. The demand-supply gap in the city is so wide that it can't be mended by government fleet of just 42 tankers – not a match with private operators possessing 10,000 vehicles.
Read More: http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/06/water-woes.html
In Bangalore, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has floated tenders thrice in last 3 months for water tanker operators to meet with an impossible outcome viz. the stark statistics of zero response! A water supplier at Koramangala area earns approximately Rs. 4,000 per tanker, which is much profitable commerce compared to the government’s offer. BWSSB’s flat rate is Rs.1,650 per day per tanker – way below the private operator’s rate, who at times are found to charge anywhere between Rs.6,000 to Rs.8,000 per day. The demand-supply gap in the city is so wide that it can't be mended by government fleet of just 42 tankers – not a match with private operators possessing 10,000 vehicles.
Read More: http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/06/water-woes.html
Monday, 18 June 2012
Business is Marketing: IT’S ALL ABOUT CREATING THE RIGHT IMAGE
Business is Marketing: IT’S ALL ABOUT CREATING THE RIGHT IMAGE:
She is a heroine of a different generation and yet this month, so many celebrated her birthday as if she were still with us. She may have gone long ago; yet, she lives on, for her images just don’t seem to fade. In fact, every time an unseen or unpublished image of hers is discovered, it makes it to the front page of almost all newspapers. The lady is Marilyn Monroe. Images are very powerful, they just live on and some even become iconic. The face of the Cuban revolutionary, Che Guevera, also being one such image. It’s not just a face. It symbolizes rebellion and freedom, feelings that the youth just love. Put this face on any merchandise and it becomes a bestseller. The number of T-shirts emblazoned with Che’s face that have been sold is incredible. It’s ironic that a revolutionary, who rebelled against the capitalists, has today become the biggest bestseller of the capitalist world.
Read More: http://rajitachaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/06/its-all-about-creating-right-image.html
She is a heroine of a different generation and yet this month, so many celebrated her birthday as if she were still with us. She may have gone long ago; yet, she lives on, for her images just don’t seem to fade. In fact, every time an unseen or unpublished image of hers is discovered, it makes it to the front page of almost all newspapers. The lady is Marilyn Monroe. Images are very powerful, they just live on and some even become iconic. The face of the Cuban revolutionary, Che Guevera, also being one such image. It’s not just a face. It symbolizes rebellion and freedom, feelings that the youth just love. Put this face on any merchandise and it becomes a bestseller. The number of T-shirts emblazoned with Che’s face that have been sold is incredible. It’s ironic that a revolutionary, who rebelled against the capitalists, has today become the biggest bestseller of the capitalist world.
Read More: http://rajitachaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/06/its-all-about-creating-right-image.html
All About Business Strategy... Well, Almost...: A CULT ENTREPRENEUR SOLVING A SOCIAL DILEMMA
All About Business Strategy... Well, Almost...: A CULT ENTREPRENEUR SOLVING A SOCIAL DILEMMA:
Wikipedia, which derives its name from the word ‘wiki’ (a website whose content can be edited through a simplified mark up language or a rich text editor), was anti-establishment at its very core, and one would not be surprised at the same, if one were to closely examine the credentials of Jimmy Wales himself. Disdain for what passes off as convention and a passionate search for freedom have been part and parcel of Jimmy’s character, whose initial schooling happened in a oneroom schoolhouse, which was run by his mother and grandmother. His most pleasant memory of that time is the Montessori influence on the school, which meant that he could spend a lot of time studying anything he felt like. And perhaps his most unpleasant memory was how bureaucrats and high school inspectors used to constantly interfere in the school’s functioning.
Read More: http://a--sandeep.blogspot.in/2012/06/cult-entrepreneur-solving-social.html
Wikipedia, which derives its name from the word ‘wiki’ (a website whose content can be edited through a simplified mark up language or a rich text editor), was anti-establishment at its very core, and one would not be surprised at the same, if one were to closely examine the credentials of Jimmy Wales himself. Disdain for what passes off as convention and a passionate search for freedom have been part and parcel of Jimmy’s character, whose initial schooling happened in a oneroom schoolhouse, which was run by his mother and grandmother. His most pleasant memory of that time is the Montessori influence on the school, which meant that he could spend a lot of time studying anything he felt like. And perhaps his most unpleasant memory was how bureaucrats and high school inspectors used to constantly interfere in the school’s functioning.
Read More: http://a--sandeep.blogspot.in/2012/06/cult-entrepreneur-solving-social.html
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Passionate About India: After giving the killer blow to CPM, is Mamata goi...
Passionate About India: After giving the killer blow to CPM, is Mamata goi...:
Yes, she has been in the news in the recent past for all the wrong reasons. It’s outright insecure and almost suicidal for a national leader of an intellectual and free-thinking state like West Bengal to target a professor for forwarding a cartoon! There are no two ways of looking at it. Leaders are supposed to let their work do the speaking and not their might. We aren’t living in the Hitlerian era. It’s also ridiculous to talk of turning Calcutta into London by painting the trees blue. London is about its democracy (freedom of forwarding cartoons), equality in access to health, education and justice, its high life expectancy, negligible infant mortality and a far more equitable society apart from its astounding standard of safety and cleanliness in comparison with Calcutta. In all these respects, West Bengal and Calcutta are at least 25 years away, assuming we get a government led by a sincere leader who works genuinely day and night for its people. Apart from arguably destroying the future of Indian Railways by compromising on possible safety upgradations by not increasing railway fares again and again at a Central level, Mamata has also not announced a budget for West Bengal and kept all finances at her whim and fancy; she has hardly done anything worthwhile for the state’s education, health or employment situation while continuing to work in a very autocratic highhanded manner. Thus, many would argue she indeed has rightly won the ire of intellectuals of Bengal who supported her so wholeheartedly, and are now deserting her one by one.
Read More: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/06/after-giving-killer-blow-to-cpm-is.html
Yes, she has been in the news in the recent past for all the wrong reasons. It’s outright insecure and almost suicidal for a national leader of an intellectual and free-thinking state like West Bengal to target a professor for forwarding a cartoon! There are no two ways of looking at it. Leaders are supposed to let their work do the speaking and not their might. We aren’t living in the Hitlerian era. It’s also ridiculous to talk of turning Calcutta into London by painting the trees blue. London is about its democracy (freedom of forwarding cartoons), equality in access to health, education and justice, its high life expectancy, negligible infant mortality and a far more equitable society apart from its astounding standard of safety and cleanliness in comparison with Calcutta. In all these respects, West Bengal and Calcutta are at least 25 years away, assuming we get a government led by a sincere leader who works genuinely day and night for its people. Apart from arguably destroying the future of Indian Railways by compromising on possible safety upgradations by not increasing railway fares again and again at a Central level, Mamata has also not announced a budget for West Bengal and kept all finances at her whim and fancy; she has hardly done anything worthwhile for the state’s education, health or employment situation while continuing to work in a very autocratic highhanded manner. Thus, many would argue she indeed has rightly won the ire of intellectuals of Bengal who supported her so wholeheartedly, and are now deserting her one by one.
Read More: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/06/after-giving-killer-blow-to-cpm-is.html
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Typos: HOW GREEN IS MY VALLEY STILL?
Typos: HOW GREEN IS MY VALLEY STILL?:
Last evening, I had taken photographs of a lone boatman silhouetted against the pink and gold sky. Then as night pulled an inky blue curtain over the sky, I began dismantling the lens while that boatman paddled up to me. “Good morning sir!” chirped the voice and I looked up at a cherubic little face and a beatific smile. The boatman was a tiny little kid in his little blue and battered boat. Even though it was clearly way past ‘good evening’, I replied with an equally cheerful “good morning”. The boy’s smile grew wider as he proceeded to show me his wares. My shikara-wallah, Yusef, told me that Zahid, for that was the boy’s name, sold little trinkets to tourists after school to help his father, a fellow shikara-wallah, keep the fire burning in what was by necessity, a very large kitchen. Twelve year old Zahid and I had a little chat after he’d fleeced me off a pair of 500s. I knew he loved going to school so I asked him why he didn’t look like he was going to school this morning, he said “chhutti hai!”
Read More: http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/06/how-green-is-my-valley-still.html
Last evening, I had taken photographs of a lone boatman silhouetted against the pink and gold sky. Then as night pulled an inky blue curtain over the sky, I began dismantling the lens while that boatman paddled up to me. “Good morning sir!” chirped the voice and I looked up at a cherubic little face and a beatific smile. The boatman was a tiny little kid in his little blue and battered boat. Even though it was clearly way past ‘good evening’, I replied with an equally cheerful “good morning”. The boy’s smile grew wider as he proceeded to show me his wares. My shikara-wallah, Yusef, told me that Zahid, for that was the boy’s name, sold little trinkets to tourists after school to help his father, a fellow shikara-wallah, keep the fire burning in what was by necessity, a very large kitchen. Twelve year old Zahid and I had a little chat after he’d fleeced me off a pair of 500s. I knew he loved going to school so I asked him why he didn’t look like he was going to school this morning, he said “chhutti hai!”
Read More: http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/06/how-green-is-my-valley-still.html
COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: THE LOTTERY OF BPL CARDS
COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: THE LOTTERY OF BPL CARDS:
For all its efforts, the government has initiated its flagship programme called Targeted Public Distribution Scheme where BPL cardholders will get subsidised food and other eatables from the ration shops. In this context, our finance minister himself has lambasted the programme, “About 58 per cent of subsidised grains do not reach the target group, of which a little over 36 per cent is siphoned off the supply chain...” The anomalies in BPL cards distribution are many. In Gujarat for instance, Congress has voiced its protest against the incumbent BJP government of channelising thousands of bogus BPL cards and incurring losses running into thousands of crores. In Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, several BPL cards have been issued to people earning between Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 a year, sparking controversy! Most astonishingly, a man who has paid Rs 3.46 crores to obtain liquor license has been issued one BPL card! In Karnataka, out of 1.2 crore families present in the state, 98 lakhs families have been recognised by the government as living below poverty line! That means about 80 per cent of the population in the state are eligible for BPL cards, especially in a state that is deemed as one of the most progressive state in the country!
Read More: http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/06/lottery-of-bpl-cards.html
For all its efforts, the government has initiated its flagship programme called Targeted Public Distribution Scheme where BPL cardholders will get subsidised food and other eatables from the ration shops. In this context, our finance minister himself has lambasted the programme, “About 58 per cent of subsidised grains do not reach the target group, of which a little over 36 per cent is siphoned off the supply chain...” The anomalies in BPL cards distribution are many. In Gujarat for instance, Congress has voiced its protest against the incumbent BJP government of channelising thousands of bogus BPL cards and incurring losses running into thousands of crores. In Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, several BPL cards have been issued to people earning between Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 a year, sparking controversy! Most astonishingly, a man who has paid Rs 3.46 crores to obtain liquor license has been issued one BPL card! In Karnataka, out of 1.2 crore families present in the state, 98 lakhs families have been recognised by the government as living below poverty line! That means about 80 per cent of the population in the state are eligible for BPL cards, especially in a state that is deemed as one of the most progressive state in the country!
Read More: http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/06/lottery-of-bpl-cards.html
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Passionate About India: Run!!! The merchants of death are angry!
Passionate About India: Run!!! The merchants of death are angry!:
I can easily cite scores of such examples from reports on miserable conditions existing in hospitals all over India. Although examples of the opposite nature are becoming rarer by the day, there are sparkling exceptions; and it gives me immense pleasure to write about one such example – the Shramjibi Hospital in Belur, West Bengal. When they admit a patient, they never ask him/her to deposit any money. Patients are almost always surprised to receive a very low bill (almost always one-fifth of the amount charged in other hospitals) when the treatment is over. For example, a coronary bypass surgery for heart costs Rs.25,000 at the hospital, inclusive of pre-and post-treatment charges. In the unfortunate case of the patient expiring during treatment, the management of this hospital never presents any bill to the relatives of the patient. Elsewhere, a bypass surgery may cost upwards of Rs.100,000 to Rs.350,000. Honestly speaking, since the surgery in a hospital and other services are not burdened with any transport and distribution costs, charges to be paid by patients for such surgeries should not exceed 100% of basic costs. But charges these days on operations are unfortunately 500% to 1000% of basic costs, and patients also can easily be blackmailed because of the prevailing threat of death. I am aware and proud of Shramjibi Hospital. Yet, on the other hand, services rendered by many private doctors and by private/public hospitals are of such miserable standards that one can even label them with the choicest of invectives; one reason I get the impression that these places are infested with ‘merchants of death’.
Read More: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/06/run-merchants-of-death-are-angry.html
I can easily cite scores of such examples from reports on miserable conditions existing in hospitals all over India. Although examples of the opposite nature are becoming rarer by the day, there are sparkling exceptions; and it gives me immense pleasure to write about one such example – the Shramjibi Hospital in Belur, West Bengal. When they admit a patient, they never ask him/her to deposit any money. Patients are almost always surprised to receive a very low bill (almost always one-fifth of the amount charged in other hospitals) when the treatment is over. For example, a coronary bypass surgery for heart costs Rs.25,000 at the hospital, inclusive of pre-and post-treatment charges. In the unfortunate case of the patient expiring during treatment, the management of this hospital never presents any bill to the relatives of the patient. Elsewhere, a bypass surgery may cost upwards of Rs.100,000 to Rs.350,000. Honestly speaking, since the surgery in a hospital and other services are not burdened with any transport and distribution costs, charges to be paid by patients for such surgeries should not exceed 100% of basic costs. But charges these days on operations are unfortunately 500% to 1000% of basic costs, and patients also can easily be blackmailed because of the prevailing threat of death. I am aware and proud of Shramjibi Hospital. Yet, on the other hand, services rendered by many private doctors and by private/public hospitals are of such miserable standards that one can even label them with the choicest of invectives; one reason I get the impression that these places are infested with ‘merchants of death’.
Read More: http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.in/2012/06/run-merchants-of-death-are-angry.html
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Typos: FRIENDS?!
Typos: FRIENDS?!:
Read More: http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/06/friends.html
And last but not the least, are you best-friends enough to be honest with each other and also love the other enough to accept honesty in the other, without conditions or judgment. Do you have enough compassion to say, “I love you and you can tell me anything at all. I’m not promising I will agree with you but I will understand. And I promise I will not walk away from you… because I know you, love you, understand you and because you are my best friend”?
Read More: http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.in/2012/06/friends.html
COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: TUNING THE TUTOR
COMMON SENSE SIMPLIFIED: TUNING THE TUTOR:
Formal schooling and coaching centres (a.k.a tuition centres) have become synonymous to each other. Today, schooling is deemed to be incomplete without those extra hours in tuition centres. Be it at secondary education level or be it for any competitive entrance examination, securing high marks and grades today is ought to be virtually impossible without attending a couple of tuition classes. I rarely come across students who bag success without the baggage of extra coaching. Recently, what caught my fancy was a news that was published in one of the leading dailies, about how a group of students from Ahmedabad cleared not only school examination but also state’s board examination, with decent grades, without attending any extra tuition classes.
Read More: http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/06/tuning-tutor.html
Formal schooling and coaching centres (a.k.a tuition centres) have become synonymous to each other. Today, schooling is deemed to be incomplete without those extra hours in tuition centres. Be it at secondary education level or be it for any competitive entrance examination, securing high marks and grades today is ought to be virtually impossible without attending a couple of tuition classes. I rarely come across students who bag success without the baggage of extra coaching. Recently, what caught my fancy was a news that was published in one of the leading dailies, about how a group of students from Ahmedabad cleared not only school examination but also state’s board examination, with decent grades, without attending any extra tuition classes.
Read More: http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.in/2012/06/tuning-tutor.html
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