The way our patent act!

Lifesaving drugs, patented after ’95, will not come cheap

While India’s IT industry hogged media limelight for its breathtaking pace of growth over the last decade, the pharmaceutical industry too kept up the momentum, marching at a decent pace of around 13-14 per cent annually in a market that is estimated to be around $11 billion. The catalyst that got the juices flowing for the pharma industry was the Patent Amendment Bill (2005), which in line with the WTO agreement, got the ball rolling for both MNCs and indigenous companies in the sector. The Bill gave MNCs a strong regulatory framework that acted as a bulwark against cheap copy of their discovered drugs while local companies benefited by getting opportunities to tap the off-patented medicines. Indian pharma companies got another shot in the arm with the new Patent Act stating that only drugs invented after January 1, 1995, can be considered for product patenting.

Eight years hence, India is one of the five biggest pharmaceutical producers in the world, contributing to 10 per cent of the world’s drug production, amounting to $22 billion, up from $7 billion in 2005. And if growth comes can employment generation be far behind? A Department of Pharmaceuticals report indicates an employment figure of 340,000, which is split among 20,000 pharma companies across the country. Armed with such growth opportunities, India could become the potential pharma-superpower over the next two decades – a credit that goes singularly to the Patent Bill, 2005.

However, the Bill has had its fair share of controversies too. The main apprehension has been that it would allow the patenting multinationals to charge high prices for their drugs! The low elasticity of demand for pharmaceutical products, coupled with the aggressive marketing by big pharma companies, entails the risk of encumbering the low and middle income groups with financial stress. However, the recent Supreme Court ruling denying patent rights to Novartis’ anti-leukemia medicine, Glivec, has given reasons to belie such concerns. For instance, Glivec costs an unaffordable Rs. 1.2 lakh per month. But its generic formulation, made by domestic manufacturers, costs no more than just Rs. 8,000. The SC ruling came on the basis of the drug being developed before 1995, which made it ineligible for protection under the new Patent Act.

But the jubilation at the SC verdict is ephemeral. With the passage of time, chances of a drug being formulated before 1995 will gradually grow rarer. And that’s where the danger lurks. Abnormally high priced lifesaving drugs, formulated after ’95, will no longer be affordable.

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

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

Book Review: The Revenge of Geography

Reductionist scholarship

19th century American journalist and educationalist, Ambrose Bierce, in what was termed a bout of often frequent farsightedness, once quipped that “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Who would have known that even exactly 100 years after his demise, this man’s observation would still stand relevant.

By sheer coincidence, this also happens to be the year when American journalist Robert D Kaplan came out with his latest book, The Revenge of Geography: What The Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts And The Battle Against Fate. As the title suggests, the book is an effort to know how geography has played its part in shaping geopolitics and how it does not plan to call it a day yet.

I am not exactly a fan of Kaplan’s writings or even thought process. I generally consider his previous works, including the better known Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea and Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a case of fish-out-of-water at the best and attempts towards utter reductionism at the worst. These books, although full of ingredients that make a non-fiction bestseller in the US, fared miserably at the Nielsen. In short, even average chest-thumping Americans took a very dim view of his writings. And that is quite low.

But still, these books tell a lot about how he constructs his arguments. Another book of his with the self-explanatory title Balkan Ghosts was again a non-starter. But somehow or other, President Bill Clinton got hold of a copy, and as legend follows, used the arguments put forward in the book to launch an attack on Yugoslavia. Kaplan’s star rose overnight, albeit for the wrong reasons. When George Bush was mulling an attack on Iraq, Kaplan supported the idea in a then secret meeting with Bush administration insiders. However, these days, he admits he made a mistake. This book is supposed to be the product of that learning curve. 

So, let’s look at the premise of the book. The book explores a new paradigm, or if we believe the author, an omnipresent but rather ignored paradigm, that geography has pipped ideology as the anchor-stone of geopolitics in a post-Cold War world. That essentially means that nations decide upon their bilateral and multilateral relationships driven by compulsions of geography and not ideology.

While this analogy is as fresh as any, there are works of other theorists that the author draws on. In fact, Kaplan dedicates a substantial number of pages exploring often debunked theories of these geniuses. So, at the very beginning, readers are thrown into the world of English geographer and academic Sir Halford J. Mackinder, who’s ‘Heartland thesis’ is pitted by Kaplan against the ‘Rimland thesis’ of Dutch geo-strategist and his contemporary, Nicholas J. Spykman. Kaplan explores these ideas for the benefit of the readers and helpfully illustrates why they failed. The problem starts when he presents some of his vague ideas and seeks to draw examples from the contemporary world.

While some of them do hold water, the others fall flat. Take for example Panama Canal. Kaplan maintains that it was the specific geography of Panama that led to the canal and dominance of the US in both Pacific and Atlantic. Had Panama not been there, it would have not been easy for the Americans to surpass Brits at sea. Kaplan theorizes that since Britain was positioned as an island west of mainland Europe, it was geographically well placed to outmanoeuvre Portugal and the Netherlands, which it eventually did, in the war of dominance on water. The US did the same with Britain with Panama Canal. This I concede is a remarkably fresh idea.

However, he fails when he  draws parallels between Saudi Arabia and Iran by asserting that these are loose conglomerations of ethnic groups, peoples and lands. And their political centres more often than not cannot hold their distant dominions. Anybody who knows the region will only laugh at this. Similarly, he concedes, rather miserably, that autocrats in Russia, from Stalin to Putin, were necessitated by its ruthless geography.

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

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Book Review: Cell Phone Nation

India without the wires

The cheap mobile phone is probably the most disruptive communicative device in history. In India its potential to stir up society is breathtaking, argue well known historian Robbin Jeffery and leading anthropologist Assa Doran.

The authors are familiar with the emerging landscape in India for more than two decades now. Jeffrey is a visiting professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies and Asia Research Institute, at National University of Singapore, and has also written on the rise of vernacular dailies in India. Doron, a research fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, too has an earlier India book - Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges: Passages of Resistance.

“Like shoes, mobile phones have become an item that almost everyone can afford and aspire to. Unlike shoes, mobile phones often get taken to bed,” the duo writes in Cell Phone Nation: How Mobile Phones have revolutionised business, politics and ordinary life. The authors explore this theme in the context of India to understand the impact of the cheap mushrooming of communication devices, a revolution for a country that until 1991 had only one phone for 165 people.

All this changed in the first decade of the 21st century and by 2012 mobile phone subscribers in India exceed 900 million out of the 1220 million population. It is ironic  that India had far more mobiles than it had toilets of any kind; 53 per cent of the country’s 247 million households still defecated in the open; but mobile phone density in 2012 approached 72 per cent.

The impact of the simple version of the device has been deep. Village councils continue to ban unmarried girls from owning phones. Families have debated whether their new bride should surrender them. Cheap mobile phones have become photo albums, music machines, databases, radio, flashlights… Religious images and uplifting messages continue to flood tens of thousands of millions of phones each day. On the other hand pornographers and criminals have found a tantalizing tool.

Each of the eight chapters is worth a book in itself. The canvas has been divided over the concept of three ‘Cs’. The first is ‘Controlling’, which examines how people struggle to control information, beginning with sub-continent’s Mughal rulers 500 years ago but quickly moving to radio frequency spectrum and nexus of big business, politicians and bureaucrats, and discusses the 2-G scam and infamous Radia tapes.

Second part of the book focuses on who did the connecting ranging from the fast living advertising women and men of Mumbai to small shopkeepers persuaded by their suppliers of the fast moving consumer goods to stock recharge coupons for pre-paid mobile services.

Also what made the cell phone revolution possible in the billion-plus nation conscious its caste and class hierarchy is that it developed the cheapest mobile call rates in the world and turned pre-paid mobile phone plans into a complex and much talked about subject. In 2010, a US dollar (Rs 50) bought more 200 minutes of talk time on an Indian mobile phone; in Australia, it often bought less than one minute. At one point of time, the cost of making an international call from India for three minutes was Rs 300. Today, it is as low as Rs 20.

With mobile phones invading every section of the society, authors tell us how masses became consumers. This occupies the third part of the canvas - consuming in a multitude of ways. “Mobiles were used for business and politics, in households and families to commit crime and foment terror. Some of the practices enabled by the mobile phones were new and disruptive,” the authors observe.

At the most phones brought fundamental changes in the lives of people at the bottom of the pyramid whether it was fishermen in Kerala or Banaras with tips on the rough weather on seas or marginal farmers with farm advisory or money transfer in unbanked areas.

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

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

'Global Zero' Possibilities

A nuclear-weapons-free world seems a dream; no harm trying...

The IAEA Director General, Yukiya Amano recently mentioned that “as a human being, as Director General of the IAEA – and not least as a citizen of the only country ever to experience the unspeakable horror of nuclear bombs – I believe with all my heart and soul that these horrific weapons must be eliminated.” What is unique in his statement is that such talk of a nuclear-weapons-free world has almost but vanished even from the lexicons of peaceniks. You see, it’s now considered childish to recommend such paradigm reversing objectives. Nuclear weapons are surely here to stay... or are they? Could there really be a possibility of a nuclear-weapons-free world? Well, as one defence commentator put it to yours truly, if India could eradicate polio, then anything is possible. Not many might remember that the Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) has actually aimed at the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. Those in the know would remember the global campaign called “Global Zero” which was launched in Paris in 2008 for the elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Yet, against the backdrop of the renewed nuclear race – encompassing Iran, India, Pakistan, Korea, China etcetera – it’s quite unlikely that the philosophies of the NWC or Global Zero campaigns would cut any ice with the global warlocks.

As per various estimates, there are more than 23,000 nuclear warheads active in the world, most with the old foxes (America and Russia primarily); that’s one reason that nouveau entrants into the nuclear club too have all their guns blazing. North Korea, which conducted its third nuclear test last month, stated that they are developing this, targeting the US over its hostile interference in Pyongyang. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who had urged the elimination of nuclear weapons previously, has warned that “no power could stop us if we are forced to build that.” And the less said about Pakistan, the better.

While US President Obama did mention his objective “to secure the peace of the world without nuclear weapons” in his initial addresses in 2009, he ignored such a mention in his January 2013 inaugural address. Even Senator John Kerry recently admitted that “a nuclear-weapons-free world is no more than an aspiration.” Yet, one cannot deny that nuclear weapons have not been used since 1945. For instance, the United States and Soviet Union were ready to accept their embarrassing defeat in their wars in Afghanistan and Vietnam rather than use nuclear weapons for a desperate win. South Africa has rejected nuclear weapons post the Cold War.

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

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Book Review: Tata Log

The company one keeps

Since 1868, when the founder and first chairman Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata established a private trading firm in Mumbai. it has not only grown and transformed into India’s premier industrial house but has also touched everyone’s life with salt to satellite television, steel to supercomputers to automobiles and what not. Not a day goes by when we are not touched by some or the other Tata product or services or news about them. The latest offering was the ascendency of Cyrus Mistry replacing Ratan Tata as chairman of Tata Group.

It is one industrial house in India that has been well chronicled beginning with RM Lala— the man who penned books such as The Creation Of Wealth: The Tatas From The 19th To 21st Century and Beyond The Last Blue Mountain: A Life Of J.R.D. Tata. Three years back, Morgen Witzel, a leading business historian authored a book Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand. What differentiates Tata Log, written by Harish Bhat, managing director and CEO of Tata Global Beverages, from the previous works is that it attempts to portray how Tata companies have broken new ground and set new standards of excellence over the past two decades since the Indian economy was liberalised in 1991. Secondly by focussing on people who were involved in different projects closely and their dreams and dilemmas, crises and challenges, Bhat has captured the subaltern view of the post-liberalisation decades.

An old Tata hand, Bhat, who has been trying his hand at writing besides managing workers and business, has carefully chosen eight stories that reveal the Tata way of life. This lends a human touch to the Tata Group.

The book begins with the making of India’s first indigenously designed car, the Indica, followed by how Tata Chemicals in Mithapur is transforming the lives of a community in a far-flung, semi-arid corner of the country committed to social causes as diverse as raising the water table in a barren area to protecting the endangered whale shark. Equally interesting is the tale of Tanishq, and how Titan Industries is modernizing and transforming the huge jewellery industry in India.


The chapter on the tribulations of Tata Finance that brought out the worst and the best in the group is timely as Tata Capital is trying to emerge as a new player in the market.

Equally amazing is the story on Second Career Internship Programme, or SCIP, of the Tatas, which offers a second career to women who take a break to raise a family, and the building of the world’s fourth fastest and Asia’s fastest supercomputer-‘EKA’ by S Ramadorai and his team. These chapters peep into how Tata Group transformed itself and various communities and stakeholders around them.

Two stories - one on the first-ever acquisition of an iconic global brand by an Indian company - Tetley and the other about how Tata Steel became the first Indian organisation to win Japan’s prestigious Deming Prize for quality - have been showcased by the author to illustrate Tata’s arrival on the global scene more emphatically than ever before.

As a good storyteller, Bhat has taken care to pepper each of the chapters with interesting anecdotes. For instance he quotes Xerxes Desai, the man who founded Tanishq, to reveal that the name was actually inspired by a Harlequin Great Dane owned by him. The dog was called Monishqa.


In all these eight stories Bhat tell us that the Tata Way is all about 4Ps — pioneering, purposive, principled and perfect - and builds his case to exemplify these 4Ps.

If Bhat chooses to tell us how the group transformed after Indian economy began to walk on the path of liberalisation, he ought to have included the Nira Radia episode, the telecom scam, and the withdrawal of Nano project from West Bengal. But none of these finds a mention in Tata Log.
As the title suggests, Tata Log is at best a record keeping or about ‘Log’- people. Of course it is a question whether somebody like Bhat, who is a sensitive insider, would have dared to include these episodes. Also missing is the extraordinary response of the staff of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai during 26/11 attack.

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

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
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Passing the baton

Jaipur marks a watershed in Congress’ chequered history by ushering in Rahul Gandhi as a new year gift. Pramod Kumar reports from the Chintin Shivir

The glorious history of Rajasthan, given its geographical location, is replete with instances of valour and comebacks, of success stories pulled out of thin air and against all odds.

 Rahul Gandhi’s ‘coronation’ as the virtual heir apparent to India’s ruling dynasty at this week’s Chintin Shivir in Jaipur should be seen in that backdrop.

 There was pathos, tears and raw emotion, all ingredients that make up for family melodrama and have the potential to move the masses politically, as few other slogans can.

 The Rahul Gandhi that came out was the new face of the Congress: young, exuberant, ready to take on challenges and the country onto another level. More pertinently, there was the promise of new politics, slogans and faces; it was as if a beleaguered Congress party was trying to exorcise the ghosts of the UPA as 2014 draws close and who better than Rahul to navigate the treacherous road ahead?

The unofficial handing over the baton to Rahul was by no means an accidental happening, it was carefully choreographed from start to finish. The developments that unfolded had keeping the Election Commission’s Code of Conduct in mind. First Rahul was introduced at New Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds on November 4 last year to ‘acquaint’ him with party workers; on November 9, in the next round, it were members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) who were formally introduced to Rahul. These were traditional testers to gauge the mood of the cadres - not that it was required - but in the light of Rahul’s somewhat unsuccessful 2012 with reverses in UP and Gujarat, no one in the party was willing to take any chances.

 Once the core group around Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided that the Gandhi family grip on the party apparatus had in no way declined, then it became a question of time and matter of completing formalities. As a background to the carefully orchestrated coronation, young ministers were inducted in the Union Cabinet as a first step; the Chintin Shivir then only became an occasion to formalise a political contract which everyone knew existed.

Sonia herself set the ball rolling when she emphasised that policies need to be framed keeping the aspirations and frustrations of the angry youth in mind, whose issues could no longer be ignored.

It was known in the party that there would be a Jaipur Declaration and it would be headed by Rahul. It did not quite happen that way. On the second day of the proceedings, the Jaipur Declaration came and went without causing too much of a flutter; Rahul’s induction became the biggest event for Congress in the New Year.

An actual look at proceedings will tell you that after Rahul, the buzz was around young ministers. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Jitin Prasad, RPN Singh and Sachin Pilot, were all flavour of the meet. A very busy BK Hari Prasad and Mukul Wasnik showed that the Jaipur Chintin Shivir, more than anything else, signaled yet another generational shift in India’s first political family.

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

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

Movie review :Table No 21

Heavy weather in cool climes

It isn’t love that makes the world go round for Fiji resort owner Abdul Razzaq Khan (Paresh Rawal). Fear does. He asks the male protagonist: do you believe in God? Yes, the latter replies. No, you fear God, retorts Mr. Khan. For good measure, he adds: “Dar sey hi dunia chalti hai.”

You squirm: God! Is Paresh Rawal still in OMG mode? He isn’t. There is no Akshay Kumar here in the guise of Lord Krishna; for Table No. 21 is neither a social satire nor a profound cinematic discourse on the flip side of faith. Is it, then, a dark thriller that pulsates with life? That neither. Simply put, it is an eminently forgettable film.

On the face of it, Mr. Khan isn’t a pleasant guy to know. He employs all the dread that he can drum up and paints an unsuspecting couple, Vivaan and Siya Agasthi (Rajeev Khandelwal and Tena Desae), into a murky corner that proves too difficult for the lovey-dovey duo to squeeze out of.

For sure, Mr. Khan isn’t playing harmless games. He actually has a deadly point to prove, but we know not what he is really up to until the very tail-end of Table No. 21. Not that it matters.

In Aditya Datt’s cat and mouse thriller, the natural beauty of the salubrious island location far outstrips the less-than-dramatic energy of the fictive battle of psychological attrition that plays out as a series of tricky questions and tasks that Mr. Khan, as the host of an online game show, comes up with for the couple.   

The basic premise of Table No. 21 is intriguing enough; the performances are adequate, if not spectacular and the cinematography and editing are both of the highest order. What the film lacks is a genuinely gripping storyline.

The screenplay is overloaded with clichés right out of more conventional Bollywood melodramas – an out-of-work young man struggling to make ends meet and waiting for his big break; a doting wife as adept at romping in an itsy-bitsy bikini on a beach as at going the extra ‘immoral’ mile in keeping the home fires burning, and a deceptively courteous tormentor hell bent on messing up the twosome’s not-so-hard-earned idyllic vacation.
 
“Secrets are sexy”, Mr. Khan intones, his voice dripping menace. But he isn't the only one who has reasons to keep his cards close to his chest. Vivaan and Siya, too, have demons from the past to deal with.

The tale of sweet nothings, half-truths and betrayals that lie at the heart of Table No. 21 – the number refers to the Article of the Indian Constitution that guarantees “protection of life and personal liberty” – has a high-minded purpose.

Sadly, the methods it uses to get its point across are painfully laboured. Neither the social objective of the statement that it makes nor the dramatic intent of the mise en scène is served well enough in the bargain.

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

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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

ExecutiveMBA

The minority measure mystery

Rangnath Commission’s rejection of linguistic minorities is illogical and absurd

However, the commission ignored this fact and went on to recommend reservation on the basis of caste and religion. The entire focus of Rangnath Commission has gone so deeply into religious minorities, especially Muslims, that it has tried to reject even the term ‘Linguistic Minorities,’ by saying, “The term ‘Linguistic Minorities’ as such has not been defined in the Constitution or any other law. The term minority has been defined in Section 2 of the National Commission for Minorities Act with reference to the religious minorities only.” This observation is a complete contradiction of its own report in which the commission has written in Chapter 2 that “Article 29 has the word ‘minorities’ in its marginal heading but speaks of “Any sections of citizens… having a distinct language, script or culture.” It further notes that “Article 30 speaks specifically of two categories of minorities – ‘Religious and Linguistic’. The remaining two Articles -350 A and 350 B relate to linguistic minority only.”

Clearly, the panel was not at all in a mood to even recognise linguistic minorities as a basis to determine backwardness. “The Bhojpuri community has been the most backward and neglected since India’s independence,” comments Shaheed Rahim, senior media researcher at Observer Research Foundation and the founder of Kashika Institute in Delhi. He said, “Kashika, Angika, Vajjika and Purabiya people are long neglected.”

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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...
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For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

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Utterly ogrely…!

TSI Five-O: Goes ‘Ogre-board’ with punchless jokes in a retelling of Shrek 1

The ogre fun is here again with an interesting twist but Shrek as a franchise ran out of steam by “Shrek The Third” and is pretty much running on empty now.

The latest tale begins with an irate Shrek (Mike Myers), trying hard to shuttle between his daily chores and managing his kids, with absolutely no time for himself. He misses his long lost luxuries of lone time and of having the liberty to take a mud bath as and when desired. A dejected Shrek, desperate to live his bachelor life again, soon gets tricked into signing a contract with the evil Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn), who with his magical powers, offers him a deal to live his bachelor life for a day. Once Shrek bites the bait, he finds himself to be a part an era where no one knows him - his wife Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) doesn’t recognise him, his friends the Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss (Antonio Banderas) have no idea about his existence and worse still Rumpelstiltskin is the king of Far Far Away.

How Shrek fights all evils (especially the flying witches) and wins the ‘Kiss of True Love’ in order to turn back time is an interesting watch only if one overlooks the frivolous entry of the Pied-Piper. The 3-D gimmick does not add anything to the adventure and the film is not exactly a bundle of joy if you were expecting a world of entertainment, but nevertheless it is a decent watch. It’s “Shrek 1” redux in a sense; only with fewer funnier moments.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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Time to act purposefully on cigarette makers

Out of 1.1 billion smokers across the world, a staggering 120 million live in India. In quick summary, raising taxes on cigarettes and bidis to internationally recommended levels would not only save millions of lives but also will generate additional revenues for the government to the tune of Rs.180 billion, according to American and Canadian economists and public health specialists. Reports point out that in spite of the fact that 51 million Indians alive today will have a premature death because of tobacco consumption, the taxes on tobacco are far too low compared to developed economies. The World Health Organisation recommends that taxes on cigarettes be 65 per cent to 80 per cent of the retail price. In India, the figure is as low as 40 per cent! However, if the figure is raised to 78 per cent, it can ward off 3.4 million premature tobacco related deaths and as well as raise the government exchequer by Rs.146.3 billion each year. The situation is the same with bidis. Though 85 per cent of Indians smoke bidis, the product is taxed at nine per cent of its retail price! Almost 15 million premature deaths can be averted even by raising the tax rate to 40 per cent of retail price and elevate government revenue to the tune of Rs.36.9 billion. One-tenth of all deaths in India are tobacco related – a shocking 1 million every year. The World Bank estimates that a 10 per cent price rise of cigarettes could ensure see a demand fall by 8 per cent in low or middle income countries. Even though a majority of tobacco consumers are poor and young, and very price sensitive, as the demand for expensive cigarettes falls, it is unfortunately offset by the demand rise for bidis. Therefore consumers merely switch to a cheaper priced bidis. This is one of the main reasons that with higher taxes on cigarettes in India, the demand never really dropped for tobacco related products, unlike in other middle income countries. One set of strategies adopted by the Indian government to reduce demand for tobacco products – imposing comprehensive ban on advertising and promotions; apart from restricting smoking in public places and ensuring prominent health warning labels on products – has contributed considerably to reduction in heart attacks. However, prohibition of advertising and promotions still contain certain loopholes – surrogate advertising being one example of the same. Things become more complicated when the company manufacturing the cigarettes is a conglomerate operating in many other business areas.

There is no ideal policy. A policy that works out, becomes ideal. Cuba may not be fully successful but there can be lessons from its policy. Its first aim was to portray "smoking is a socially unacceptable behaviour". This was followed by creating awareness about smoking’s harmful affects; and providing education, research to evaluate peoples' psyche about smoking and framing strategies towards changing that. Above all, strong political will is all the more important, considering that tobacco related illness and deaths cost India an incredible sum of Rs.300 billion a year!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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It is anything but a failed state

There are other positive developments as well. A large section of civil society has started to shift its focus to issues that were left on the backburner for decades. Increasingly, people are willing to talk about issues like poverty, health and education. Although Pakistan fares better than India on several indices of health, hunger and poverty, and is visibly ahead in infrastructure, there is still a long way to go. Civil society is coming up with innovative ideas to deal with these issues. And they are questioning authority like never before. The way civil society and media has been hounding the power minister and the power supply authorities for the painfully long outages is worth taking note of.

It does not mean that emotive issues are dead. In almost every meeting, somebody or the other will raise the issue of Kashmir or for that matter, increasingly, water. But in every meeting a substantial section is willing to look through such individuals and talk about other matters. A classic example was our meeting with the Vice Chancellor and faculty members of the University of Punjab, Lahore. It was heartening to see how much effort academia was making to improve higher education in the country. In the middle of the discussion, a long retired army man now doubling up as a researcher, started taking a hawkish position on Kashmir. The other faculty members not only snubbed him and but also started talking about the more pressing issue of how history is being taught in South Asia. The academicians were putting in lots of labour while trying to write history textbooks with a fresh perspective, free from partition era hangover. For these academicians more pressing issues lay somewhere else.

The head of the Centre of South Asian Studies lamented that he has not got access to the Persian manuscripts of an old history book that was lying somewhere in India. Half of the same manuscripts are in Lahore. But he needed the entire thing to write the authentic history of the period. Similarly, other academicians were more concerned about a lull in academic exchange and non-availability of visas to India than they were with Kashmir.

Similarly, there are lots of concerns about how their country is presented in the international media, particularly in India. Questions after questions were thrown at us about Bollywood’s stereotyping of everything Pakistani. It appears the masses there want to detach themselves from the state and want to be treated as an independent entity. The selection of news is an issue. For example, two days in a row, there were items about a Hindu feudal lord kidnapping a Muslim girl and violating her. However, the Indian media only carries the news when there is a role reversal. Also, the siege mentality one would have expected to see on the roads was missing. Average Pakistanis are the fiercest critics of fundamentalist forces. They snub rightist elements. They question everyone: the state, the army and ISI.

The visit also coincided with perhaps the greatest event in Pakistan’s democratic history: the 18th amendment. The way all political parties came on board to introduce political reforms was unprecedented. Who would have imagined Asif Ali Zardari of all people would let go of his extra-constitutional powers so easily. Democracy is indeed trying to find its feet in Pakistan and the 18th amendment, with the restoration of legislative power, will go a long way to strengthen it.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

THE NEED OF A RIGHT TO FOOD BILL - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM

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OBC face of the Ram Mandir movement

It may be recalled that even after the BJP had expelled Uma Bharti, the RSS continued to support her. The RSS mouthpiece ‘Organiser’ had also attacked the BJP leadership over her expulsion. She was arguably the party's most charismatic backward caste face. Uma has been associated with the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) since her childhood before coming into the BJP fold. She was a gifted child preacher who was groomed by the Parivar. And since the BJP's inception in 1980, Uma had been a loyal soldier of the party.

On being asked if RSS was pushing the BJP to re-induct Uma Bharti, RSS spokesperson Mohan Vaidya completely denied this and said, “This is a party matter. The BJP will decide. They will do whatever they think is good for the party.”

Soon after appearing on the national scene in the early 1990s, the BJP began a project to build a strong backward caste leadership with the help of K. Govindacharya, Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti but after their departure, BJP had started to look like a party of floating leaders without a mass base. According to sources, the party is planning to re-induct many stalwarts like Babulal Marandi and Govindacharya as well. As a senior leader says, “Govindacharya’s departure had been extremely costly for the BJP. The former was one of the key strategists of the party.”

According to one faction of the divided party, differences related to Uma Bharti’s re-induction have been solved but the other side is still opposed to the move. But the opposition notwithstanding, the fact remains that Uma Bharti has the strong backing of a section of the RSS. Her re-induction cannot be ruled out. Sources say that the announcement to launch Uma Bharti as the face of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh will be made very shortly.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

THE NEED OF A RIGHT TO FOOD BILL - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM

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Indian generic tribe

Explaining his company’s outlook in the generics space, Ramesh Adige, President, Ranbaxy tells TSI, “Ranbaxy is today well positioned in the global generics space and is amongst the top 10 generic companies globally offering products in over 125 countries. With over $80 billion of drugs going off-patent by 2012 and a higher generic penetration across developed and emerging markets, the generics market will continue to provide attractive growth opportunities in future.” Even Uday Baldota, VP – Investor Relations, Sun Pharma tells TSI, “In our view, generic drugs is a significant, growing and profitable opportunity, worldwide. We are working towards getting a meaningful presence in the worldwide generic industry over the longer term.” While Dr Reddy’s stands to gain the most, there are others like Ranbaxy and Sun Pharma which are amongst the top gainers. Even Cipla has filed for permission to market generic/low-cost editions of drugs that make over $45 billion annually! While 10 Indian firms have seeked permission to sell generic versions of the highest-selling Lipitor, in US alone, it is Merck’s Cozaar (anti-diabetic drug) and Astra Zeneca’s Arimidex (anti-cancer), which have received the maximum number of applications.

So how can Indian pharmacos leverage the opportunity? There are over 100 USFDA approved drug-manufacturing units in India that represent the swarm willing to strip all opportunities to the bone. Indian drugmakers have captured $23.6 billion of the $110 billion value of drugs that went off-patent since 2005, and if history is some proof, then of the $160 billion worth drugs that will lost patent rights by 2016, Indian drug manufacturers would at least be looking at a windfall of $34.32 billion over the next six years, making it the world’s third largest by value, at $63.42 billion and the highest by volumes by 2016 after the US and Japan. Says Adige of Ranbaxy, “The Indian pharmaceutical market will continue to observe double digit growth in the coming years. With increasing incidence of lifestyle diseases, rising disposable incomes, a growing middle class, greater penetration of health insurance and expanding medical infrastructure, India’s consumption of pharmaceutical products will go up.”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

Read these article :-

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

THE NEED OF A RIGHT TO FOOD BILL - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

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Congress high command

First, the Congress high command does not dictate the PCC on local elections and leave it to them, as the party’s policy and principles do not really reflect in these polls. And it is impossible for Delhi to take local factors into consideration. For once, Sonia Gandhi has left the issue to the state Congress leaders. Secondly, knowing full well that the state Congress leaders are against any disrespectful alliance, Sonia withdrew herself, leaving the ball in the state leadership’s court. It has a dual message - let the unhappy PCC leaders prove themselves, whether they can retain their seats. If they can, then a different scenario will emerge before the 2011 Assembly election. Congress leaders would not have to dance to Trinamool’s tune. An alliance, then, would be among the equals.

If the first message goes to PCC leaders, the second one is for TMC. The examinee is Mamata Banerjee. She has to answer the questions she herself raised. Mamata has always tried to liberate West Bengal from the ‘Left misrule’. She is against any compromise on this. She has gradually increased her opposition to CPM. This political rivalry has divided the Bengali society into ‘Amra O Ora’ (Us and Them). It has become somewhat like Bangladesh, sharply divided between Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia. Like the fundamentalists in Bangladesh, Maoists are trying to fill the void here. Till date, this is the net outcome of her ant-CPM stance.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

Read these article :-

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

THE NEED OF A RIGHT TO FOOD BILL - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

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A 'uncaged' way forward

Employing prisoners in call centre is a good precedence

Every initiative for a good cause is worth mentioning. This time it is nothing big but certainly should not be overlooked or underestimated as well. An Indian company by the name Radiant Infosystems, a global provider of end-to-end IT and Enabled services across industries, such as media, publishing education, and healthcare is planning to employ prisoners in Hyderabad's Cherlapally Central Jail. Around 250 inmates will work in the new centre, initially processing insurance claim forms and bank account applications for Indian clients. However, the company promised that all the precautionary measures will be taken to address various possible irregularities.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, there are 3,76,396 inmates in central, state and jails in national territories in 2007 while the total available capacity is 2,77,304 and with the occupancy rate of 135.7 as against 141.4 in 2006. Though the data related to their education background and qualification is unavailable, figures show that over 41,996 inmates have gone through various vocational courses from agriculture, carpentry, canning, tailoring, weaving, handloom and many others. The gross value of goods produced by inmates touched about Rs.6075.5 lakh. In such situations, initiatives like employing inmates in call centres, giving them real exposure, would definitely enhance the status of prisoners. More importantly, as researches show that inmate earns less than 20 pence per day for making furniture today, with the new initiative; if they are hired by the call centre, they may be able to make up to £1.50. There are many qualified inmates imprisoned for dowry or like small cases.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

Read these article :-

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

THE NEED OF A RIGHT TO FOOD BILL - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
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Chinese companies are being safeguarded hints at a big scandal

It’s not that India can’t manufacture SIM cards as per requirements. The secretary of Smart card Forum of India, Jagdish Raj Purohit, says, “The country has an annual demand for 60 crore SIM cards. Indian companies are capable of fulfilling this demand. Many companies are even exporting their SIM cards.” Yes, Chinese SIM cards are dirt cheap. R. Srinivasan, a senor defence expert, “Chinese equipment, especially SIM cards, supplied at cheap prices is a strategy to break into the internal security ring of the country at minimum cost. In my opinion, these SIMS are embedded with kinds of malwares, spywares, Trojan, hidden software etc.”

The eight parameters which were finalised by the committee included Data Confidentiality, Communication Security, Data Integrity, Privacy. If we pay attention to these four parameters, then SIM cards require security clearance. The interesting point is that when BSNL issued a tender on June 26, 2008, for the purchase of SIM cards, one of the conditions was that only companies having personalisation centres in India need apply. It is evident that even two years back, the government was aware of the dangers from Chinese SIM cards to internal security. When a few companies requested permission to buy Chinese SIM cards after the December 3, 2009, circular, they were denied security clearance. TSI has the copy of the letter no 10-8/2009/AS.III/Unitech sent by the department of telecommunication on February 18, 2010, to Unitech Wireless Private Limited which did not allow it to buy SIM cards personalised in China. Why is this double standard? We tried to speak to several DoT officers including DDG (security) Ram Narayan. But no officer spoke to us on the phone. Apart from this, we even asked for official information from corporate communication officers of Bharti Airtel, Reliance and Idea which buy SIM cards from Watchdata and Eastcompeace. But no one cared to respond to our queries.

The minister of state for communication and IT, Gurudas Kamat, while replying to a question, said in Parliament that “In the interest of the national security, the Government has directed BSNL in May, 2009, that resources should not be procured from Chinese vendors for deployment in the sensitive regions of Assam, Tripura, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra.” When it is a matter of national security, then why is the direction given to just BSNL and not to the other private cellular companies which have more subscribers than their state-owned counterpart.

This problem goes bigger as India has no legal treaty with China. India has neither extradition nor any cyber treaty with China. In this situation, if anyone sitting in China commits a crime against India, he will never be brought to book. Further, our cyber laws are pretty weak. Well-known cyber law expert and Supreme Court lawyer Pavan Duggal says, “It is not just an issue of SIM cards as our cyber laws are silent on any type of data protection and privacy. Spyware is not even mentioned in Cyber Laws and IT Act-2000.”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

Read these article :-

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

THE NEED OF A RIGHT TO FOOD BILL - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better
IIPM fights meltdown
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