Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Three major events over the last three years have hogged prime space in both general and specialist media. The first of this ominous iipmthreesome was the Chinese anti-satellite test in January 2007 – while the US last February destroyed an ailing spy satellite. More recently two satellites accidentally collided in the Earth orbit. The February 10, 2009 incident was the first of its kind.

All three events generated huge dollops of interest, gossip, paranoia and conspiracy theories – till, for the layman, it became pretty nearly impossible to tell fact from fiction. Only the expert can sift one from the other – and what we learn from him would set any earthling on edge.

Imagine for a second what would happen if a 10 mm piece of debris were to suddenly collide with our Edusat satellites. The threat is so real indeed that on March 11, 2009 crew members had to evacuate the international space station and take shelter in a docked Russian Soyuz space craft due to the threat from space junk. A collision can punch such a large hole in the spacecraft that the crew's very survival is endangered.

Till Russia and China began to take on US might in space, the threat of direct collision between satellites was low. Points out Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist of NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston: “When the year began there were nearly 17,000 pieces of man-made debris orbiting Earth.” But scientists at the American Physical Society conference in Los Angeles estimated their number at over 150 million. The statistics also reveal that nearly 45 per cent of the space debris was produced by the US. “We are in danger of a runaway escalation of this deadly stuff,” warns Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Geoffrey Forden. But so far no effective way has been found to get rid of it, so that collisions can be prevented. Satellites and spacecraft launchers can only try to minimise the quantity of the debris produced. These killer satellites not only pose a major threat to our space programmes, they threaten mankind’s survival itself. And what in the world will satellites do without people?


For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative


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Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better
IIPM fights meltdown

Thursday, September 17, 2009

The scene of Orissa’s worst communal riots in living

Thereafter we were greeted by a group of villagers engaged in a preparatory meeting to finalise plans for the observance of Swamiji’s death anniversary. “We’ve been constrained to curtail the first shradhotsav of Swamiji for two reasons. First, the district administration will not allow congregation of his admireres from across the state for security reasons. Second, Maoists have distributed leaflets directing the public to refrain from participating in any of our programmes. However, we will perform some basic religious rituals,” says Jagabandhu Dash, Sanskrit teacher of Chakapada gurukul.

On condition of anonymity, one inmate revealed that the ashram was facing a severe cash crunch as donations had dried up after the death of the Swami.

Some local people allege that the missionaries indulged in mass conversion of tribals and scheduled caste people by luring them with money and other inducements. The Swamiji successfully stopped the conversions and vehemently opposed cow-slaughter. The Swamiji had survived at least nine attempts on his life, including a murderous attempt in December 2007. The district administration failed to provide adequate security to Saraswati even though his life was always under threat.

On our way back, our cab was halted on the Chakapada-Tikabali road by a huge herd of cattle. We ask the owner of the animals, Bapu Pradhan, whether he would be going to the ashram for Swamiji’s death anniversary. We also enquired whether communal tension still persists in Kandhamal. His reply surprised us: “I don’t know anything. Police vehicles are coming to this area frequently. Something untoward must have happened.”

We reached the district headquarters, Phulbani, at about 9 pm. Hotel rooms in Kandhamal are all taken. Since last year’s communal violence, the place has been receiving a steady stream of journalists from around the world, which has been keeping constant watch on the situation in Kandhamal. An essentially local issue has turned into an international one. We later learnt that the Orissa Director-General of Police was in Phulbani to supervise security operations. “He is busy with a high-level meeting and may not brief the media today,” a senior police official present at the Kandhamal SP’s office said when a request for an interaction with the DGP Manmohan Praharaj was made.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better
IIPM fights meltdown


Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Heart-string manipulators

If Dilip and his heroines brought intensity, sensitivity and restraint in their love-scenes, Raj-Nargis, passion, boldness and undiluted physicality – then Dev Anand of the nodding head, tossed out ‘contemporariness’ to the mobs. Neither too serious nor overtly passionate, they brought in style, chaal, ada every time he ‘pharmaoed’ ishq. From Suraiya to Tina Munim – Dev’s love scenes ("Manzil", "Paying Guest", "Jab Pyaar…", "Asli Nakli", "Guide", "Des Pardes") have always been sprinkled with rare flamboyance. His style of talking, walking and mannerisms have turned-on not only his heroines, but millions of adoring fans down the decades. Oh, there was Guru Dutt too, who blazed with all cylinders firing and lit up the screen with lady love Waheeda Rehman in classics like "Pyaasa", "Kagaz Ke Phool", "Chaudin Ka Chand", "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam", but his was a different scene.

Interestingly, all these big-dads emoted much better (as their films reveal) when in love and deeply entrenched in their heroine’s soul. The only real inheritor of their legacy was Rajesh Khanna, who in the early 70's brought back love to where it belonged - center-stage! Such was the hysteria his early romantic films ("Aradhana", "Kati Patang", Amar Prem", "Sacha Jhootha", "Roti", "Aan Milo Sajna", "Apna Desh", Aaoki Kasam", Do Raaste") generated that girls actually were known to have married his photograph and applied sindoor, sometimes in blood! Today, in year 2009, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol may well be voted the “most romantic couple of the day” through an opinion poll and "DDLJ", their “all time favourite movie”, but somehow, it isn’t the same … Pure, raging, insane, passion – love that you could die for – has been replaced by love parading as a designer emotion, a fashion statement, fun and cool, with sensuous body language in place of the inarticulated expressions of love, loss and longing … Further, today, in a world where ‘speed’ is the watchword and ‘quantity’ the cardinal turn-on, love has become a publicity gimmick, a marketing tool, a selling force often designed to psyche and hustle the turned-on mobs into a storming a movie. As can be gathered, this blitz is normally machine-gunned before the release of a film. What these dumbbells don’t understand is that publicity can’t sell a lousy movie. Nor can curry-dipped rumours. At most they can create a climate of excitement which, however, could – and does – dangerously boomerang if the promise does not match the performance.

At the time of writing, new star-teams (Akshay-Kareena in "Kambakht Ishq"; Saif-Deepika in Love, Aaj Kal) are caught in the spectacular race for box-office buzz. Are they only confirming the obvious: that the world of passion and intensity has been replaced by hype and heart-string manipulators, panting to get into the fast lane, at any cost?

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better
IIPM fights meltdown