IIPM FACULTY

The Enduring Shame of Khaki

2013-06-04T17:37:00.001+05:30

Why Indian cops are the most brutal and brutalised lot in this so called feudal democracy.

Most of us have our favourite cop stories, ranging from the gruesome to the bizarre. Here goes my favourite cop story: back in the 1990s, my parents were staying in a town in one of the BIMARU states. They went back home after a few weeks of holidaying in Delhi and found the house ransacked by thieves. Virtually everything that could be carted away was taken, including the LPG cylinder and the stove. They went hesitantly to the local police station where the cop in charge was actually very polite with them but made it clear that my parents should forget about the whole thing. Typical of many Indians, they decided to fall back upon `connections'. They called up one of my cousin uncles who is a very senior cop. In less than 24 hours, the station house officer (SHO) paid a visit to our house and promised action in double quick time. He also sheepishly suggested that if my parents had disclosed their ‘connections’, he would have been spared a dressing down from his boss. In another 12 hours, the thieves were arrested and virtually all stolen items, including cassette tapes, recovered. My parents were astonished at the speed and efficiency with which the cops acted.

That tale just about sums up the state of Indian police and the nature of cops in this country. In many ways, they are a perverted version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Which face you get to see depends on ‘who’ you are. If you are an unknown girl in Punjab who goes to the cops to complains about harassment and lewd remarks, and if you don't ‘know’ anyone, chances are that the cops will beat you up instead of taking action against offenders. If you are the poor mother of a six -year-old girl in Aligarh who has been raped and killed, you will be thrashed brutally and in full public view if you have the effrontery of demanding justice. If your five-year-old daughter in a poor locality of Delhi goes missing, the cops will refuse to register an FIR despite the new anti rape law. Worse, after the girl has been discovered raped and brutalized, the cops will offer you Rs 2,000 to keep your mouth shut. And of course, if you are a member of the ruling class, you don't even have to pay a visit to the police station. The cops will come to you and pull out all stops and use the entire might of the state machinery to help you. No amount of breast beating and debating the desperate need for police reforms (see related story) will hide this ugly reality of Indian cops. Kiran Bedi can go on and on in television studios about the need to sensitize the men in uniform. And yet, an ACP rank officer of Delhi Police named Ahlawat nonchalantly slaps a 17 -year-old girl activist in full glare of TV cameras as if he is cuddling her.

What are the adjectives that instantly come to mind when you think about Indian cops? Overbearing, brutal, callous, insensitive, rude, corrupt and inhuman are just some of the more common adjectives that spring to mind when we think of cops. Sociologists and pop psychologists will have us believe that the Indian cops come from within the society and that their often bestial behaviour reflects poorly on our society and the values that we project as a whole. The logic is: what can you expect from a cop who has been brought up as a child believing that Muslims are terrorists? Similarly, if caste discrimination is deep rooted and widespread across all sections of society, how can you expect a cop to treat a poor Dalit in a more humane manner? As sociology and psychology goes, that is all very fine. But justifying the absolutely rotten behaviour of the cops by blaming social ills will spell the death knell of Indian democracy. No nation can survive without the rule of law. And it may sound pedagogical and trite, but if those given the responsibility to uphold and protect the role of law brazenly flout it, we will breed anarchy at all levels. And it is systems and institutions that make the crucial difference. There are many friends from villages (see related story) who grow up and move along different career paths. One joins the army while the other, from an identical social and economic background becomes a cop. Just see the difference in the behaviour and nature of the two and just see how society treats the two in completely different ways. The army guy gets our respect while his friend the cop commands fear and contempt.

The tragedy is: there are thousands of cops who are brave and honest and who do a superb job of policing. Just look at the police constable Omble who sacrificed his life so that Ajbal Kasab could be caught alive during 26/11. There are numerous such unsung heroes and heroines in Indian police who perform their duties to the best of their abilities. But so rotten is the system that the media and the society gets a dozen examples of inhuman police behaviour for every one example of exemplary devotion to duty.

Once again: it may sound trite. But the only solution to this is accountability and absence of political interference. If Dr Manmohan Singh is indeed serious about the whole issue, the least he can do is intimate steps that will result in the summary sacking of ACP Ahlawat and the arrest of policemen who first refused to file an FIR and then tried to bribe the family members of the 5-year-old rape victim.

Read more.....

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
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Brave New World

2013-06-03T15:09:00.002+05:30

The Bombay of the early 1990s opened a world hitherto unseen and the doors of perception had truly been opened, remembers Sutanu Guru

My first encounter with Maharashtra was pristine, ivory tower, innocent and almost like a first love. A small town hick from one of the BIMARU states, I was dreaming of pursuing a Masters in Economics from the hallowed JNU after my graduation. But there was a strike in 1983 in JNU and we were not sure if they will admit students from BIMARU states (Yeah, I know there was no Internet in those days). I was advised to try my hand at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics which was highly regarded. After some sniggers and snide suggestions about my pronunciation and conversation skills, I was given a place. Boy, how it opened a whole new world for me. And how.

The batch had just 32 students and the hostel where we stayed had just 32 single rooms. There was Fergusson College next door and a small hilltop called a "tekdi" right above the campus. And of course, Deccan Gymkhana, the area where it was located, was full of retired Maharashtrians who loved taking long early morning walks. Greenery was a given. And the Film Institute was just about 2 kilometers away. Apart from falling in love with a classmate who taught me Marathi, I fell in love with the Servants of India Society library that reminded me of Thomas Hardy and The Bleak House. I also developed a lustful attraction towards one of our young teachers whose name I forget and began to admire a young professor called Bibek Debroy because he used to allow us to smoke in classroom (of course, he was a brilliant teacher too!). Half the batch was from outside Maharashtra and there were the usual vibes about being a local or not. And yet, all differences vanished when we debated the relevance of Baba Amte, the great anti-leprosy fighter and a man that Anna Hazare can never be. All differences vanished when we heard of V. M. Dandekar, the man who sort of started the poverty ratio debate in India. That short man with a white beard and sort of timid jumping steps was someone we held in awe. As we did Bhimsen Joshi who captivated us hicks all night with his magical voice in concerts. You may not believe it, but some of us actually read Marx and Keynes and animated debates over them through the night; sometimes helped by grass, Led Zep and Doors. Without realizing, I had realized I had started conversing in Marathi. But there was a darker side. Once, when me and my Konkan Marathi lady friend and some other friends were buying cigarettes, I was abused in Marathi by some young guys because I made a joke about Marathi. I wanted to respond in anger, but was dragged away by the friends saying it is not worth fighting with goons of some outfit if I recall was called Patitapavan Sena. My Marathi friends were deeply embarrassed because they knew I understood the abuses flung by those goons at me. We forgot all that soon when we started debating the ultimate what if about what would have been the fate of modern India had Baji Rao Peshwa had not been killed in the Third Battle of Panipat. Some of my Marathi friends were Brahmins, and some were from what we now should call the upwardly mobile castes. I used to sense a kind of anger amongst the later whenever there was any praise of Dada Kondke, Maharshi Karve, Bal Gangadhar Tilak or Gopal Krishna Gokhale. To tell you frankly, I was innocent but not a fool. And in 1983, I sensed that some intellectual morons like us were discussing Marx versus Keynes when Maharashtra actually was being ruled by what my then Marxist friends used to call Kulaks (Sharad Pawar might be a good example today). A small town hick like me who wanted to transcend all this could not fathom how educated guys discussing Marx suddenly became subtle caste foes. And then one day I think I lost my lady friend. When she questioned my status as a Brahmin and asserted how Konkan Brahmins were the purest of them, I could not help pointing out why so many Konkani Marathi ladies had blue eyes. And I laughed. And lost.

I visited Pune again in 2007 and in 2011. Before my 2007 trip in a taxi from Bombay (oh, Mumbai), I had nursed dreams of that old world sleepy charm of the city, despite media torts to the contrary. My colleague Devdas introduced me to some activists on the outskirts of Pune. This was the time when anti-North Indian agitations had already gathered momentum. One of the activists was very happy that a senior journalist from Delhi could speak even broken Marathi. He just opened up and said how the locals were being driven to poverty by this new culture of globalization. I was zapped. Later, I attended a prayer cum motivation session of a group that was responsible for destroying the library of the famous Bhandarkar Institute (close to the Gokhale campus). There, I heard so much vitriol against outsiders and so much hatred against Dada Kondke that I realized I am now in a new Maharashtra. I didn't even go to Gokhale. In 2011, one of my relatives who is studying in Pune, it remains a hot education destination, told me that their lives are made miserable by Marathi goons.

That got me thinking about my other major encounter with Maharashtra. I joined The Economic Times as a young hick in 1986 and actually struggled to find a roof. Thanks to a journalist in Maharashtra Times, the local language newspaper, I found shelter and eventually a paying guest accommodation that had six guys, 20 mice and about a 100 cockroaches in Maximum City. I survived. I loved Bombay of that time because it was so open and meritocratic, if you were willing to work hard. Bombay was exhilarating. I mean, I actually could go to the Taj and to attend a Press Conference and drink so called scotch and have chicken tikka. And then then there were those junkets where a bunch of journalists like me (wow I belonged) were flown to places in Indian Airlines flights to peddle a new public issue which is now called an IPO. But most importantly, Bombay of those times was dreams. I still remember my stint in Business World where Dilip Thakore was the editor. I wrote a story on garment exports and he seemed happy with it. I actually got to meet either Ajay or Dilip Piaramal with Dilip in the hallowed corridors of Bombay Gymkhana. I was so excited after that meeting that me and my friends went on a binge that ended in a place called Gokul in Colaba and then lots of food in what is now called Bhendi Bazaar. You know, the waiters who served us food were Muslims, as were the owners of those joints. They looked at you with a snigger. But they didn't give a damn about the nationality, caste, religion or gender of the person who paid the bill. It is not as if we hugged each other. The realization of "difference" was there even then. But it used to be a kind of live and let live. The live and let live dictum was visible even in that famous Anil Ambani-Tina Munim marriage where a huge media contingent from Delhi was invited. By then, I had shifted to Delhi and was part of that contingent. Even back then, in 1991, the fault lines were clearly visible. The Shiv Sena was no longer just a Bombay- centric party whose cadres used vocal and muscle power to do what they wanted to do. It had emerged as a strong political challenge to the Congress.

Read more......

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 curious case of Vijender Singh

2013-06-01T13:58:00.000+05:30

India's boxing poster boy, in trouble over drug connections, is no stranger to controversy. Aditya Raj Kaul investigates
Olympic bronze medalist winning boxer Vijender Singh is not just another sportsperson. Since 2008 when he did the country proud at Beijing, life has been in the constant fast lane. Despite a bad outing at the London Olympics in 2012, he has been in the news; issuing positive statements here, inaugurating a shop there, a top draw at modeling events in the company of actresses, and generally, the man about town.

Vijendra's success at the highest level in international sport has invited comparisons with Sylvester Stallone, not just for the dashing looks but also the Sly's hook and uppercut. The 27-year-old Jat strongman from little known Sirsa in Haryana had well and truly arrived.

But this arrivers' genial facade was shorn to bits this week he was questioned by the Punjab Police in Chandigarh for links with a drug peddler following a major haul in Zirakpur, close to Chandigarh. The story was sensational: the police first swooped on Anoop Singh Kahlon, an NRI businessman, an alleged international drug peddler, and recovered from him 26 kgs of heroin estimated at Rs 130 crores. An SUV registered in the name of Archana Singh, Vijender’s wife, was found outside Kahlon’s residence. The NRI told the police that Vijendra and his sparring partner Ram Singh were his `clients.'

Vijendra has denied any connection to Kahlon but has also refused so far, to share a sample of his blood and hair for forensic examination.

Insiders say Vijendra is no stranger to controversy and had raised eyebrows in 2006 when his best friend and boxer Sonu Chahal died under mysterious circumstances. The 20-year-old was found hanging to a ceiling fan at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) hostel in Bhiwani on March 12, 2006, a place where he also trained. Barely hours before, Sonu had been happily grooving to Hindi songs at a friend's wedding. A potential winner had been nipped in the bud.

While the police had registered a case of suicide, the forensic report claimed “foul play”. The report, a copy of which is available with TSI, clearly states that “based on the type of knots around the fan and the neck and the position of the body, foul play cannot be ruled out.”

Four years later in 2010, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took cognizance of the fact that there was more to Sonu’s death than an open and shut case of suicide. Under pressure from Sonu's family over charges of botched investigations, the case was transferred to the CBI.

Sonu's family had barely started to heave a sigh of relief when the CBI closed investigations in the case calling it a suicide. Said the closure report of the CBI filed in August 2011,“The investigation has disclosed that Sonu Chahal was in love with Seema, also a boxer, and wanted to marry her. But his parents were not in favour of their marriage as they belonged to different castes. Moreover, when Seema developed an intimacy with another youth, Sonu went into depression and committed suicide out of frustration”.

The CBI report cleared the four main accused as well. ``During the course of investigations, it was found that the four accused Narender Sangwan, Pawan Rathi (both boxers), coach Jagdish Singh and Balwan Singh, watchman of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) hostel, named in the FIR were found innocent”.

When asked, Vijendra Singh told this magazine, “Sonu was my best friend for almost seven years. I was emotionally disturbed when I heard the news. If I was in Bhiwani, this death would not have happened.” He, however, refused to speculate whether it could have been murder. ``The police would have a better picture on this,'' he replied.

In 2010, the victim's father Charan Singh Chahal had told TSI that Sonu was murdered. ``I knew from day one that he was murdered. The injury marks on his necks cannot be of someone who commits suicide.” The father is convinced to this day that the coach was behind the killing.

“Sonu became aware of a fake certificate racket being run by certain higher ups and was therefore silenced. I have appealed to the CBI to take over the case as it concerns the death of someone who played for the country both at the national and international level”, said the distraught father, who is sadly and unsurprisingly, left fending for himself.

Sources in the Haryana police, on conditions of anonymity, say that the influential background of those in question have compelled the police to go against the forensic findings that hint at “foul play”.

Charan Singh Chahal says that while the police report did not detect any marks of internal injury, the postmortem report said there were “horizontal marks on his neck, which clearly refers to murder”. He says he has ample proof and will continue his quest for justice, despite the fact that he has only got assurances but very little else.

Read more......

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

ExecutiveMBA

Stanley Kubrick to Anthony Burgess

2013-05-31T11:53:00.000+05:30

In 1968, shortly after finishing 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick began work on what he would later predict to be "the best movie ever made" — a meticulously researched, large-scale biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte. A few years later, after adapting Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange for the big screen, Kubrick brought Burgess on-board to write a Beethoven-inspired Napoleon novel on which his epic could be based. In June of 1972, Burgess supplied the filmmaker with the first half of his manuscript; Kubrick rejected it by way of the following letter, thus ending the collaboration. Burgess was undeterred, and Napoleon Symphony was published as a novel in 1974. Kubrick's movie, however, failed to materialise.

15 June, 1972

Dear Anthony,

TI shall start off by saying I don't really know how to write this letter, and that it is a task which is as awful for me to perform for me as it may be for you to read.

You are far too brilliant and successful a writer, and I am far too much of an admirer of yours to patronize you with a listing of what is so obviously excellent about 'Napoleon Symphony'. At the same time, I earnestly hope that our all too brief friendship will survive me telling you that the MS is not a work that can help me make a film about the life of Napoleon.

Despite its considerable accomplishments, it does not, in my view, help solve either of the two major problems: that of considerably editing the events (and possibly restructuring the time sequence) so as to make a good story, without trivializing history or character, nor does it provide much realistic dialogue, unburdened with easily noticeable exposition or historical fact.

Read more....

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

BBA Management Education

'Abdullahs are hypocrites, they can't fool people for long'

2013-05-29T16:16:00.000+05:30

In a chat with Aditya Raj Kaul after the hanging of Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru, Prof. SAR Gilani, under house arrest, talks about the duplicity of politicians and repercussions of their actions in the Valley

What was your reaction when you heard about Afzal Guru’s hanging?
When I first heard they are going to hang him, I was shocked. It was around 6.30 in the morning. I thought of immediately confirming with the family. When I called his wife, it woke her up from sleep. I asked if she had any news about Afzal. I told her about the rumours doing the rounds. She was shocked that nobody had informed her. As I came to know about the curfew in the Valley, I got a firm indication.

Do you think the government has actually mishandled it?
I have been talking about the legalities of the case, about Afzal not getting a fair trial. The manner in which it has been done doesn’t only violate the law of the land but also democratic principles. Very basic human values were trampled upon. There is no doubt that it was nothing but a politically motivated decision.

Political commentators have been speaking about similarities between the hanging of Maqbool Bhat in 1984 with the present case. Do you think there will be repercussions in the Valley like we saw in 1989-90 onwards?
I was right now talking to my friends about the very same issue. I pity the leadership in this country. The leadership that is supposed to run a huge country, the largest democracy on earth, their vision is so narrow that they cannot see beyond the 2014 elections. It will definitely have very serious repercussions. I can see the situation developing right now, especially among the youth. I think this is going to be a disaster. I wish it (Afzal’s hanging) never happened. The way they have handled it, they have given a message to the people of Kashmir, that you’ll never get justice. Nothing happened immediately after Maqbool Bhat’s hanging. Similarly, at present, it may not happen immediately, but it will have far-reaching consequences. Secondly, we were kids during Bhat’s hanging and our generation, as I see it, wasn’t very politically aware. The generation now is highly aware. We live in an era of information. In Afzal’s case, everyone knows how systematically justice has been denied to him. Everyone knows how this decision was politically motivated.

You were charged in the case in the beginning, but the Supreme Court acquitted you. Later, there was an attempt on your life by unidentified people. Looking at the developments since Afzal’s hanging, do you fear for your life today?
The attempt on my life and the two years I served on death row were orchestrated by the system. There is no doubt about it. And when you stand against the system, they target you. I know that I am in danger. They even tried to gag me for the last three days. I know this case in and out and know how injustice has been done. As a human being, if you can’t open your mouth when you know a wrong is being done, then I don’t think you have any right to call yourself a human being. By doing this, I may be putting myself in danger but I cannot stop myself. My conscience won’t allow me to do that.

J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said that those Kashmiris who didn’t identify with Maqbool Bhat will today identify with Afzal Guru. How do you look at the statement?
Omar Abdullah is trying to wash his hands off. He is equally responsible. It (Afzal’s hanging) wasn’t done without his consent. I will take you a bit back when Ajmal Kasab was hanged amidst secrecy. That day Omar Abdullah had tweeted that similar kind of secrecies can be maintained in other cases related to national security. He was actually linking to this particular case, suggesting that the execution could take place just as the way it was done in Ajmal Kasab’s case. It’s not that Omar was earlier not aware of this whole thing. If you remember, in 2006, when death sentence was given to Afzal, Farooq Abdullah made such a hue and cry stating that Kashmir will burn. After Afzal’s hanging, he changed his stand completely. Abdullahs are hypocrites. They can’t fool people for long.

JKLF chief Yasin Malik shared the stage in Pakistan with Hafiz Saeed. Do you think it was right?
As I know about Yasin’s visit to Pakistan, he has basically gone there to see his family. He has a young daughter, who he had not seen for a very long time. She did not have travel documents and there is a policy back in Pakistan that they don’t allow travel documents unless the father comes. After Afzal’s hanging, he sat on a protest hungerstrike outside Islamabad Press Club. This was not something in hiding. It was an open meeting. If there are people coming and going and during the protest this man (Hafiz Saeed) also comes, that doesn’t mean that Yasin Malik had invited him. I think the way the Indian media is taking it up isn’t the right thing to do.

There has been a virtual curfew across the Valley for days, even the newspapers haven’t been allowed to publish. Doesn’t this make things worse?
As I told you, I actually pity the politicians of this country. You deprive people of their basic right – their right to protest. There was no violence. You are gagging people. Just last month, there was a hue and cry in Kashmir over freedom of expression. I want to ask where are those champions of freedom of expression now when the whole of Kashmir is being gagged. It’s not just in Kashmir, even Kashmiris outside Kashmir are being gagged. The way I was put under house arrest. Syed Ali Shah Geelani is here and was put under house arrest and is not being allowed to move out of his house. For the first two days, they (police) were sitting inside his room and not even allowing him to move. That was the kind of situation. Even Mirwaiz has been put under house arrest.

Read more.....

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

ExecutiveMBA

Bridging the gap

2013-05-25T15:27:00.000+05:30

Irregularities in teachers' appointment would decay the system

A couple of weeks back, INLD leader Ajay Chautala along with 51 other people were convicted for illegal recruitment of teachers by CBI special court. The state High Court passed on the case to the centre and asked for CBI intervention as it saw involvement of many elite politicians and dignitaries in the same. Ajay and his group deployed more than 3,000 JBT teachers in various schools of Gurgaon by creating forged papers and through back-door entry. But then, this case comes as no surprise to me, but what is interesting to note is the way schools recruit teachers and above all, the amount of money these teachers are ready to pay to get into a reputed school.

As per Government Primary Teachers Federation, this back-door entry also halted the promotion of old teachers (whose promotion were due) as the entire fleet of staff are now under suspicion and scrutiny. The entire process had cost these individuals not less than Rs. 4 lakhs, in any case, which interestingly would be more than their average annual salary in all probability. But then, this is not only one of its kind scam. Almost two years ago, a number of politicians were charged for irregularities in teachers' recruitment process in Meghalaya. In this case too, teachers were recruited for lower primary schools of the state. In an another case, teachers were found paying hefty amount (ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000) for getting themselves transferred to the location of their choice.

On hindsight, this may seem a simple case of back-door entry but when seen from a wider perspective, the real issue would become quite vivid. These cases of irregular teachers’ appointment echo the very gap between demand and supply of teaching staff. In simple word, shortage of teachers at primary school level is massive. For instance, there are over 26,000 vacancies of school teachers at different levels in Haryana. Moreover, the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board has invited online applications for filling up of 72,825 posts for primary teacher in 75 districts of the state and West Bengal Board of Primary Education has issued notification for 34,559 assistant primary teacher vacancies recently but the positions remains to be vacant, still. So much so, the last date of application and examination dates for the same has been postponed many times. Such dearth of staff also has deteriorated the quality of education across the nation. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2012) for rural India, released a few days ago by PRATHAM, speaks volumes about the sorry state of primary education of our country. As per the report, in 2008, “only about 50 per cent of Standard 3 students could read a Standard 1 text, but by 2012, it declined to 30 per cent. About 50 percent of the Standard 3 kids cannot even correctly recognize digits up to 100, where as they are supposed to learn two digit subtraction.”

Read more.....

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

ExecutiveMBA

"Much of the Western journalism in Afghanistan today assumes that any Afghan who takes up arms against the West is a fanatical intolerant Muslim who is doing it for religious reasons"

2013-05-24T17:45:00.001+05:30

William Dalrymple's new offering, Return of a King, is a fabulous account of the First Anglo-Afghan War and its disastrous consequences. As another defeat looms large in Afghanistan, he talks about the obvious parallels and divergences in an interview with Saurabh Kumar Shahi

What prompted you to write a book on the First Anglo-Afghan War? Did you find enough curiosity among the readers to lap up this subject?
The reason I write any book is not primarily what the readers want, I have to say. The first rule to write a successful book is you need to be passionate about it yourself. Having said that, I must add that it is a consideration. There are thousands of books I want to write on subjects, like my family history etc., who no one else will be interested in reading about. So, readers are a consideration. But it is not the only consideration. While I knew it would not be as successful in India as, say The Last Mughal; as the subject is not directly related to India, I expected it to sell in countries who are affected in one way or other by Afghanistan, including the 50-odd countries that are part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). So I thought it was a risk worth taking. Although you are right, it is not a famous story anymore. Very few people know this tale and fewer still know Shah Shuja. So it was a gamble. But the story was fabulous - the simple cinematic image of 18,000 soldiers marching in a country and only one man managing to return past Jalalabad is a driving force. It is such a strong and eternal image that it will work for a thousand years to come.

The impressive bibliography suggests that you brought in a whole new set of research materials for this book, including those from Afghan poets, chroniclers as well as British officers. Often such materials tend to be partial and exaggerated and incorporate folklore...
Sure, it is a different sort of source to the British colonial source. So, if you have a letter from Lord Aukland saying I want to move 5,000 troops from Barrackpore to Lucknow, you can be sure enough that 5,000 sepoys moved. When an Afghan poet says “A hundred thousand brave horsemen charged over the hill and made the Firangis flee for their life”, you obviously don’t take it with the same literal sense. But it is incredibly helpful in many ways, especially the way it portrays Afghan attitudes, and also who the people doing the fighting were – their motives. As with much Western journalism in Afghanistan today which assumes that any Afghan who takes up arms against the West is a fanatical intolerant Muslim who is doing it for religious reasons. The interesting part is that in Afghan sources you get very distinct reasons. The religious factor is there, and it is expressed as it is in rhetoric. But individual reasons are well defined by the Afghan sources. Abdullah Khan Achakzai participated because his girlfriend was seduced by Burnes. Aminullah Khan Logari joins in because his land is taken from him. However, you have to use them carefully. But you use British sources carefully too as they come with their own problems, including incorporating the imperial views.

It is not difficult to see some very obvious parallels between the 1842 war and now. Was there a deliberate attempt on your part to illustrate these parallels or were they so obvious that they would have come to light even without a little help from the writer?
I guess it was so obvious that I did not need to overdo it. The only times I explicitly talk about the parallels are in the introduction and conclusion. In the main body of the book, except the odd footnotes where I pass through a territory and say that it is now a US base or garrison, nothing is deliberate. Again, I have also pointed out differences. I think it is important to say that Hamid Karzai, with all his corruptions and failures, is at least a democrat. And similarly, Mulla Omer, although he has great following in some areas in the south, especially in and around Kandhar, is by no means a dominating central figure of resistance in a way that Akbar Khan and Dost Muhammad were in 1842. But readers would be awed by the astonishing parallels nonetheless.

Read more.....

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

BBA Management Education

The unputdownable!

2013-05-11T15:02:00.000+05:30

Subrata Roy Sahara should come out winning on all fronts in the current face-off with SEBI! And why the erroneous Supreme Court judgment against Sahara goes beyond Parliamentary Acts and is being misused by SEBI to its own benefit!

There are a few things about Subrata Roy Sahara that even his harshest critics accept. That the man is a visionary – his mammoth investments in media, housing, hotel, sports and other industries being compelling evidence. That his open assertions of being a patriot have their weight in the various behemoth social initiatives undertaken by his group – with no apologies to the slanted English media in India which, I feel, hypocritically slanders anyone who represents the ‘other’ India (lest you should forget, it was this very media that shamelessly reported gossip a few years ago about him being ‘critically ill’ and on his deathbed; no surprises then that the same English media chose to ignore reporting how sprightly he was while meeting UK Prime Minister David Cameron a few weeks back in a closed door meeting discussing educational and research initiatives). And yes, that the man religiously knows his numbers and has a financial acumen that is better than the combined intellect of all Indian regulators in the various industries where he operates.

There are a few things about India that even its damnedest supporters don’t deny. That the License Raj era spewed out a few handfuls of family businesses that shamelessly chewed away the very idea of India, criminally sucking it hollow by monopolising industries, encouraged by corruption soaked politicians – and encouraging them in return. That this venomous combination over the decades led to a jaundiced India that today has hundreds of millions of illiterate people below the poverty line; that has no global brands to speak of, but many billionaires borne out of the excesses of the License Raj era (I call most of them ‘blood billionaires’, given that they’ve made the money on the blood of Indians). That the same group of blood billionaires, in cahoots with a similar group of corrupt bureaucrats (regulators included) and politicians, have fought and will fight tooth and nail, criminally and illegally, to ensure that there is no new honest and ethical claimant to their industry space, especially if such an entrepreneur were from the proletariat.

That Subrata Roy Sahara titles himself as the Managing Worker of his group only adds to the ire of India’s caustic bourgeoisie, which, hand in hand with the English media, would be loath to have such an unabashed community representative of workers amongst their well ‘oiled’ and ‘greased’ group. So every time Subrata Roy Sahara and his likes attempt to tread the path of diligent and astute effort – assuming the same equated to returns – they’re pulled down acerbically and vindictively by the group representing the old, feudal India. You see, this group believes that only they know how India should be run and by whom. Look around and you’ll see many examples strewn across India of how honest upstarts have been trampled upon by the powers that be before they could gain ground – wherever there has been anyone attempting to improve the condition of India, they’ve had a horde of regulatory, tax, police and judicial bodies running up their door to initiate the so-called enquiries and ‘search’. The current face-off that Subrata Roy Sahara has with SEBI actually exemplifies all this too well. A group that has issued OFCDs (Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures) since the year 2001 with all relevant government permissions, and which has regularly submitted all details as required by the concerned government authorities, suddenly gets a prohibitory order from SEBI in November 2010 against the OFCDs issued by two unlisted group companies (Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd. and Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd.) – and this despite the fact that just seven months before that, SEBI had, through its own communication to Ministry of Corporate Affairs, commented that as these were unlisted companies and had not filed a draft red herring prospectus with SEBI, any complaint with respect to these two companies should be handled by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Read more.....

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
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Why He Will Be even More Dangerous for India in 2013

2013-05-08T12:49:00.000+05:30

This man has already achieved what no other non-member of the Gandhi family has ever done. The closest to his record is Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was Prime Minister for six consecutive years between 1998 and 2004. P. V. Narasimha Rao is another non-Gandhi who completed 5 uninterrupted years as the Prime Minister. The next best is a Gandhi family member Rajiv Gandhi, who led the government between 1984 and 1989. No other Prime Minister – except Jawaharhal Nehru and Indira Gandhi – has survived five uninterrupted years as Prime Minister. Nehru was PM continuously from 1947 till his death in 1964. Indira Gandhi was PM between 1966 and 1984, except for a two and half year exile between 1977 and end-1979. The way things are changing in Indian society and economy in terms of aspirations and expectations, even die-hard supporters of Congress will snigger at the suggestion that Rahul Gandhi could be Prime Minister for 10 consecutive years beginning 2014. So there is absolutely no doubt that, in a factual context, Manmohan Singh has already secured his place in history. It is a different matter that an ‘unelectable’ bureaucrat completing 10 successive years as Prime Minister reflects on the quality and the depth of Indian democracy. But credit must be given. Manmohan Singh will almost certainly complete 10 years as PM. But will history talk about him and his lengthy tenure the way it will keep dissecting the track record of Nehru and Indira? For that matter, forget Nehru and Indira, will he ever acquire the stature that even Vajpayee has assured for himself? Let’s look at it in another, more blunt manner: will history ever talk about the legacy left behind by Manmohan Singh? Quite frankly, history books will confine him to a supporting role at best as they analyze the legacy of Sonia Gandhi. Sad, but Dr. Singh will leave behind no legacy: faceless bureaucrats who selflessly do the bidding of political masters never do so.

And yet the man, the economist, the bureaucrat, the courtier and the reluctant politician knows that he has achieved something phenomenal by becoming Prime Minister for two consecutive terms. And even faceless bureaucrats have egos and dreams. There is no doubt whatsoever that Dr. Singh knows his days as Prime Minister are numbered. He knows that even if the UPA manages to win another term in 2014 and Rahul Gandhi decides he is better off enacting the role of Sonia Gandhi by pulling the strings from behind the scenes, it is another courtier who would be anointed Prime Minister. He also knows that fawning Congressmen will instantly delete him from even contemporary footnotes the moment another courtier takes his post. I mean, if they don’t care a fig about him even now when he is the Prime Minister, what chance would he have as an elderly statesman without even the fig leaf of perceived power and authority? Surely, it must be rankling. It would rankle any normal human being with normal feelings and human emotions. And Dr. Singh is undoubtedly the embodiment of middle class normalcy.

This is where India begins to enter very dangerous times. Dr. Singh would be determined to leave at least some legacy behind. He is not a fool. He knows there is no chance of a political legacy of the kind left behind by Nehru, Indira and Vajpayee. He also knows that history books will credit not him, but Narasimha Rao as the architect of economic reforms. In fact, in terms of economic performance, his long tenure as PM would be torn to shreds by objective historians. Do remember, he was aware of all this even back in 2008 when it was not certain that the UPA would be voted back to power.

Read more....

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

BBA Management Education

M&As: A Phenomenon of the Market

2013-05-06T13:45:00.000+05:30

M&As have always been an area of debate for business experts. However, new research explains who acquires whom, whether payment is made in cash or stock, what valuation consequences arise from mergers, and why there are merger waves

In the late 1990s, the United States and world economies experienced a large wave of mergers and acquisitions, culminating in the bursting of the Internet bubble and the subsequent stock market fallout.

Until now, there have generally been two ways to understand mergers and acquisitions. One explanation relies upon the notion of synergy, i.e. the greater profit potential that results from combining two companies. The second explanation suggests that mergers and acquisitions are the product of bad management being kicked out by better management.

Previous research has addressed the separate merger waves of the past 40 years, offering a different explanation for the waves of the 1960s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. A new study, Stock Market Driven Acquisitions, undertaken by me and Andrei Shleifer of Harvard University, offers a more unified framework for understanding the different characteristics of acquisitions and how they vary over time.

We suggest that mergers and acquisitions are a financial phenomenon created by stock market misvaluations of the combining firms, and are related to the level of the market as a whole. Markets are inefficient, while managers of firms are rational, taking advantage of stock market inefficiencies through well-timed merger decisions. The objective was to come up with a simpler theory recognising that valuations differ from true fundamental values temporarily because of market sentiment. In part, companies make acquisitions or become targets of acquisitions to benefit from stock prices that are temporarily out of whack.

The Spiraling Effect of Misvaluation

A company’s valuation may be heavily influenced by investor psychology, since expectations for growth are built into the price investors are willing to pay. For example, to justify paying a price-earnings multiple of 150 ($150 per current dollar of earnings), you would have to believe that the company’s earnings will grow dramatically over the next five to seven years.

We find that in the 1990s, the valuations for the market were pushed up for some companies much more so than others, creating the “haves” and the “have nots.” Misvaluation in this context refers to the “haves,” such as America Online (AOL), Cisco, and Intel, being deemed worthy of excessively high valuations based on unrealistic growth expectations. These companies knew their share price would fall when the market learned of its overconfidence. The star companies therefore had a short-run opportunity to cash in by using their stock as currency to buy other companies-hard assets that were more sanely valued.

Our model says there was some sanity prevailing among the CEOs of high-flying companies. They knew that the valuations were unreasonable, so by acquiring all these earnings producing assets in exchange for their shares, they cushioned themselves from the full impact of the bust.

Why would a company agree to be sold in exchange for overpriced stock? The answer can be found in the different “horizons” of corporate managers. Horizons refer to how long a manager wants to hold onto a company. Managers with short horizons might wish to retire or exit, or simply have options or equity they are anxious to sell. Managers with long horizons might want to keep on working, be locked into their equity, be overconfident about the future, or just love their business.

Read more....

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
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

An Alzheimer's cure?

2013-05-04T12:10:00.000+05:30

Millions of dollars are being poured into fighting Alzheimer's, but the cure could be a step nearer

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is fast emerging as one of the most menacing threats to the human race in the coming years.

By 2050, people of 60 years or more will account for around 22% of the world’s population. As per Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), an international association to fight AD, around 35.6 million people are affected by the disease. Furthermore, some 7.7 million cases are added each year. At the current pace, the number will double every 20 years. Around 58% of AD patients are in the developing countries, and the ratio is expected to reach 71% by 2050. AD is the sixth leading cause of death in the US today and around 5.4 million Americans have AD. The total cost to fight AD in America is $200 billion to date, and the total cost to the world is $604 billion. The US FDA has approved six drugs to cure AD. But surprisingly, a drug called LMTX, by a Singapore based biotech firm, could be the best bet. The claim by the firm is that the drug can even reverse the effects of AD – by attacking tau and amyloid deposits, two proteins that cause brain plaques.

But all these medicines may well be reducing the smoke than putting out the fire. Professor Ruth Itzhaki from the University of Manchester in an exemplary medical research proved that the Herpes Simplex Virus – which causes normal skin rash in almost 90% of the population – was found located right within the protein plaques of 90% of AD patients.

Read more....

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

ExecutiveMBA

How Dr. Manmohan Singh Beats V.P. Singh Hands Down...

2013-05-02T16:44:00.000+05:30

It was really a no contest till recently. The late V.P. Singh was the undisputed winner of this trophy. He also remains the classic example of a middle class hero who became a middle class villain. Till he became the Prime Minister, V.P. Singh was the anti-corruption crusader and messiah who rode on the infamy of the Bofors scam. Of course, Indians soon realised that pious crusaders do not always become good leaders. Mercifully, his tenure did not last long enough for V.P. Singh to inflict irreparable damage to India.

I used the words “till recently” because there was some lingering, forlorn hope that the current Prime Minister would at least do something that would enable V.P. Singh to retain the crown. But then, forlorn hopes always remain hopeless. I realised this when I read newspaper stories about how a Supreme Court Bench has yet again criticised the PMO. This time, the rap on the knuckles is because the Prime Minister has failed to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority despite reminders. Allow me to use the words of the Bench: “What do you mean by this? It is shocking that you require the consent of all the states even for a date of a meeting? Is the PM to see his convenience or the convenience of the members? It is surprising that the PMO is asking the convenience of everybody before fixing the meeting.” Just imagine. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cauvery River Authority set up to tackle the often ugly dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the sharing of Cauvery waters. What conclusion can you draw from the fact that he is not able to set up a meeting with some chief ministers? Either he is truly helpless and powerless, or he is indifferent and callous. Either ways, it bodes ill for India.

This incident and the rap on the knuckles by the Supreme Court is not front page news. Nor will it lead our television anchors to froth at the mouth. Yet, in a small but very significant way, it reflects the disappointment and disaster that Dr. Manmohan Singh has been. In 2009, he was a true blue middle class hero because the Congress won virtually all urban seats in the Lok Sabha elections, including seven out of seven in Delhi. Today, that halo has been torn to shreds. Of course, the middle class Indian is very fickle and unreliable. And later historians might have more charitable things to say about the tenure of Manmohan Singh. The more charitable may say that Indians expected too much from him and hence the disappointment and anger.

Read more....

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
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
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Cicero's Challenge 2012: The nation’s grandest inter-school event

2013-04-27T11:57:00.000+05:30

It was a fest to remember. On the sprawling lawns of The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)’s international campus in New Delhi, on May 3, 2012, over 6,000 school children congregated to create what has become one of the biggest and most eagerly awaited events for the national student community. Cicero’s Challenge 2012, IIPM’s annual inter-school festival – which has the debate competition as the signature event and many other thrilling competitions – witnessed a display of excitement, energy and vigour that’s hard to put down in words.

The theme for the 2012 edition of the festival was ‘Get Real’. The two-day competition kicked off with its signature debate event, which saw students debating on the topic ‘Technology’ in the preliminary round, which was followed by the finals on the second day. The 27 finalists debated on the topic ‘The virtual world is where I can really be me’. Saksham Agarwal of Amity International School, Gurgaon bagged the first prize in the debate competition, which included a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000, a certificate and a trophy. Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri, Dean, Centre for Enterprise Management, IIPM and Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri, Honorary Director of IIPM Think Tank, were the judges for the debate finals. Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri said, “Every time I judge an event at Cicero’s, I discover new, budding schools that haven’t been heard of before; Montfort School, for instance.” In all, the event went beyond expectations to live up to its image of being the nation’s greatest inter-school event.

Read more....

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

Barack Obama’s Kony capitalism

2013-04-24T12:38:00.000+05:30

Ugandan Joseph Kony’s past is reason enough to target him as a crime perpetrator; but the grand involvement of United States in such a myopic issue clearly seems to be only with an objective to capture oil resources in the Ugandan region than for any other altruistic reasons

Joseph Kony. By some accounts, he’s a raving lunatic. By other accounts, he’s purely a cult religious fanatic. By almost all independent and reliable accounts, the man is a cut-down-to-size erstwhile extremist on the run who might previously have had fair resources under his command, engineering random killings, ethnic cleansing and abductions not only in Uganda – his former homebase from where he used to lead the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) – but also in South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. But by no sane account is the man currently worth the title of a global terrorist.

Of course, two decades ago, Kony was a different man, with a larger-than-life persona, commandeering armed men under the LRA umbrella ostensibly fighting for “freedom”. But over the years, the LRA – which sources claim had above of 100,000 fighters during the 1990s, including a significant number of children – has been decimated quite impressively by Ugandan forces. As of date, some estimates mention that the LRA – if it at all exists anymore as an entity – couldn’t have more than a hundred so-called fighters, and those too operating discretely without any central command. And the reason for that is that Kony’s been on the run for quite a long time; and his motley LRA crew – which Uganda strongly claims is being ‘supported’ by Sudan – wouldn’t even have been known in countries outside Africa had the US not decided to get in their spin doctors into the act and brand Mr. Kony as the new Osama bin Laden.

In other words, Kony – who is often now referred to even as a plain vagabond criminal – is not worth betting your grandmother’s Edward shilling on. Far lesser is he worth creating a Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act (which Mr. Obama created in May 2010) or demanding more funding from Congress primarily to target Kony and his coterie (which the US President again did in November 2010) or sending “combat-equipped” US defence forces into Uganda with a prime objective to remove Kony and destroy LRA (which Mr. Obama again managed in October 2011). And to top it all, the spin doctors even released a Youtube video called Kony 2012 in March 2012 (it’s been viewed more than 100 million times on Youtube and Vimeo as this magazine goes to print). The video documents Kony and LRA’s various ‘atrocities’ and demands action.

The gaumless ridiculousness of Mr. Obama’s so-called altruistic moves got highlighted to worse levels when on March 21, 2012, the US Senate passed a resolution against “the ruthless guerrilla group” and backed efforts to target Kony and LRA. Seriously, is all of this for a man who has, as per the US government’s own admission (Donald Yamamoto from the US State Department revealed the figures), just 150 fighters left? Kony had been operating for decades and the US did nothing. Then why now, when Kony is already almost extinct?

Read more.....

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

Can Zinger become the Big Mac in India?

2013-04-20T11:12:00.000+05:30

Shrugging off its early failure, KFC from the stable of Yum! Brands is now eyeing to replicate its Chinese success story and trump McDonald’s in the Indian market. But the question remains – can it beat McDonald’s first mover advantage in this market, and of course its robust supply chain?

It’s 9 o’clock on a wintry sunday morning and despite the chill and a holiday, quite a few young couples could be seen taking a relaxed breakfast at a KFC outlet in New Delhi’s Connaught Place. Whether they are pressed for time or it’s their love for KFC morning offerings, is not known. But certainly the ubiquitous Louisville, Kentucky-based chicken specialty restaurant from the Yum! Brands stable, has caught the fancy of urban youth. So much so that the well-entrenched McDonald’s known for its family and kids TG, has aggressively revamped its offering to orient itself to the young adults.

Starting in 1996, after a slow and circumspect start, today KFC is Yum! Brands’ best performing subsidiary in India, well ahead of Pizza Hut – once the flagship for the US-parent company in India. But what’s worth noting is that with KFC Yum! Brands is hoping to create a China like success story in India. Today KFC is 80% of the Yum! Brands’ over 4,200 outlets in China – a market which contributes 33% of its global revenue. But then that’s not without a solid reason. While India being a chicken loving country, the chances of KFC’s continuing success becomes stronger, more so as offerings like Zinger Burger, and the trademark KFC hot and crispy chicken offerings, are gobbled by urban India. Officially the QSR chain is growing at a blistering 70%. And the company has already started eyeing for bigger targets. When asked about the company’s target to hit Rs.10 billion turnover in India, Dhruv Kaul, Marketing Director, KFC India says, “With the kind of growth and expansion we are having, that looks a very humble figure, we are aiming much higher in the coming years.”

However, to achieve these bigger targets, KFC has to take the game away from McDonald’s, which already has a very strong presence across the country. Certainly, the QSR that believes in finger licking taste has outlined few key growth areas to take the matter forward. While keeping its great taste USP alive by further expanding and localising its menu is its primary strategy, increasing its footprints to roughly 50 cities, increasing the serving hours and thus drawing a broader customer base – especially among the Indian youth – are the key focus areas for the company now. Working on the lines, the company recently introduced Streetwise range starting at Rs.25 to cater to the college going youths, and lure the mass that have been loving McDonald’s happy price menu (starts at Rs.20) so far. Moreover, KFC now aims to expand to 100 items serving all kind of customer needs from health to indulgence.

McDonald’s on its part too knows that KFC is the one to watch out for. As such the Big Mac maker is on a good move growing at 35% over a revenue base that’s much bigger than KFC in India, and doubling its revenue every 3-years. But then the fact that the past couple of years have seen KFC’s aggression bringing it good dividends is something hard for McDonald’s to ignore. No doubt, a serious competition is already in place. The flow at which both players have started offering new products, right from burger specialty to their respective beverages, to hit the other’s menu clearly explains how spicy the chicken and the burgers have become in both the board rooms.

Read more......

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

In need of a bailout

2013-04-16T10:26:00.000+05:30

With several power utilities running up prohibitive losses and power tariffs remaining static for years on end, the much touted growth story for the power sector looks like tripping up.

The red flags are up for the power sector, which was once considered to be the next ‘big thing’ in India’s growth and investment story. But in the face of mounting losses by already debt-ridden state electricity distribution companies, existing and future loans to the power sector have become a cause of deep concern for banks and state lenders such as REC, PFC and others. Lenders such as Power Finance Corp (PFC), Rural Electrification Corp (REC) and several banks have together lent about Rs.4.8 trillion to the sector by March 2011 and total advances are expected to grow 23% over the next two years. Moreover, around Rs.560 billion of these lenders’ exposure is potentially at risk if there is no meaningful progress on power reforms in the next 18 months. And going by the way the power distribution sector is racking up losses, funding for the sector looks headed for real trouble.

Losses for state electricity distributors, which depend on state support and borrowings from financial institutions to meet revenue shortfalls, doubled in the two years since April 2008 to $12.9 billion, according to a Power Finance Corp report. The net losses of the power distribution firms, which have been widening over the past five years, was pegged at about Rs.400 billion in FY11. As a result, many distribution firms are financing the gap in their revenues and costs by debt funding. Nine states including Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana account for 80% of the outstanding debt (see chart). But mounting losses at state electricity boards (SEBs) and delays in the execution of new power plants are making servicing of loans and interest payment difficult. SEBs are on a brink of bankruptcy as they are saddled with losses running into millions of rupees on account of power theft during transmission and distribution, billing inefficiencies, and, more importantly, because they have to buy expensive power to tide over short-term deficits. To add to the woes of distribution companies, power subsidy requirement by distribution utilities has increased both in absolute and percentage terms over the last few years, which means that the ratio of average revenue realisation (ARR) to average cost of supply (ACS) and the gap between ARR and ACS has deteriorated. From a credit perspective, timely disbursement of subsidy to distribution companies remains a critical factor, given that any significant delay in subsidy payments by the State governments can impact the cash flows of the state-owned power utilities.

Under the circumstances, it’s no surprise that some of the state electricity boards are already asking for loan restructuring by extending the repayment period. Loan advances to power sector constitute nearly 7.3% of total outstanding credit for banks. Of this, nearly 30-40% is accounted for by state electricity boards (SEBs) and face a much greater likelihood of being restructured if things get any worse. According to brokerage firm Macquarie, up to 40% of advances to the power sector could be restructured. Canara Bank has the highest exposure to power, with 13.3% of its assets exposed to the sector, while Kotak Mahindra Bank is the least troubled with almost negligible exposure to power. India’s top two lenders, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank, are among those having high exposure to the power sector, with more than 300 billion rupees of loans each. According to Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank K.R. Kamath, “Wherever we had issues on state electricity board short-term loans we have restructured and converted them into long-term loans repayable over a period of time.” In fact, PNB has restructured loans worth Rs 1.7 billion given to Tamil Nadu state electricity board in the second quarter. A similar predicament is being faced by Indian Overseas Bank, which has lent more than 91 billion rupees ($1.8 billion) to the power sector. “Some of the state electricity boards are asking for loan restructuring. We’re seeing how that can be worked out,” says Chairman and Managing Director M. Narendra. According to the Reserve Bank of India, bank loans outstanding to the power sector as on September 2011 was Rs 3,007 billion. Banks exposure to power sector at the end of August 2011 accounted for 7.9% of total bank credit. The maximum limit is 8.3%, which leaves almost no room for further funding.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

RTI needs more teeth

2013-04-15T17:21:00.000+05:30

B&E: The PM, along with some of his colleagues, has been critical of some of the provisions of the RTI. What do you read from the PM’s remarks?

ND: The impact of RTI has begun to show now. I think the RTI, not as a law, but as a system, gives it strength. The government has also been in trouble on many occasions due to RTI and their anger is unfortunate. This is one legislation that has been passed by this very government. What the PM has said is unfortunate. I would be happy if he had talked about strengthening its implementation instead of attempting to dilute it.

B&E: The PM’s call for a critical look into the RTI Act has emboldened voices seeking dilutions to RTI. Do you see it as a threat to RTI?

ND: The threat from the political class to RTI has existed since the Act came into being. Barely six months into the formulation of the Act and the government was already on its toes to clip its wings. I remember we had a hard time keeping the RTI in its current form. However, with the kind of community support that the RTI has garnered in these 6 years, it will not be easy for any government to amend it.

B&E: What is your reaction to remarks that the RTI has inbuilt weaknesses?

ND: I feel that there are weaknesses in the Act, but in the sense that it doesn’t have sufficient teeth. There is no provision for fixing responsibilities & imposing penalties.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Sony’s (Intelligent?) bet on The Idiot Box

2013-04-12T14:55:00.000+05:30

Sony India has been Focussing Big Time on its Television Business in India. And it seems to have paid it off well. But then, it will Certainly have to come with Some Innovative Strategies soon if it wants to continue rising up The Ranks.

“It’s a time of transition, which makes things even more difficult”. These words from Osamu Katayama’s book These are our future (which details Sony Corporation’s recent history) aptly describe the phase that this Japanese multinational is going through at the moment. First, a devastating earthquake in Japan. Then, a cyber-attack on its network. And finally, a colossal net loss of $3.1 billion for the financial year ending March 31, 2011 (Sony’s second worst financial performance ever). All this has not only made its share price tumble over 25% since the turn of the year, but has also put an enormous pressure on its chief executive Howard Stringer who is striving hard to win the battle against the odds, one after the other.

In fact, when Howard Stringer, Chairman, CEO & President, Sony Corporation, took over the reins of this Japanese conglomerate in June 2005, its three major businesses – gaming, mobile phones and television – were already losing momentum, globally. Thus, the task ahead for Stringer was not only to save these businesses from collapsing, but also identify functions and markets that could serve as alternative sources of revenue for Sony, at least till the time these businesses were back on track, live and kicking.

Although Sony had been in India since 1994, it was only then that the Indian consumers saw Sony recognising the real potential of this ‘Asian Tiger’. Thus, everything from more launches, slightly more affordable prices, to more stores, to even zero-interest finance schemes, to things which Sony had never done before, were all suddenly happening, and not just in India, but across the globe. Result: Sony’s CPD division, which sells televisions, digital imaging, audio and video products, semiconductors, components and business services, recorded a respectable profit of $35.4 million in FY2010-11, up 1.6% y-o-y, at a time when the core divisions were bleeding losses.

No doubt, the strategy paid it off well across countries, but then India seems to be special, so much so that the company is now looking at the country as a priority market and expects it to become the fourth largest market for its products in the world, contributing as much as 10% to the group’s sales in the next couple of years. In fact, Sony, which started off slow in the Indian market, is now rising up fast in a market dominated by chaebols like LG and Samsung.

Cut to the chase, the focus for the time being is on its television business, particularly the Flat Panel Display (FPD) TV market in India. In fact, as per the US-based market research firm DisplaySearch, Sony has already overtaken Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics for the top position, with 22.1% of flat panel TVs shipped in the Indian market in 2010. Even according to the GFK Nielsen Urban India Panel TV (LCD + Plasma TV) Report (for April-June 2010 period), Sony Bravia (Sony’s flagship FPD product) had become the market leader in Flat Panel Display segment in the first quarter of FY2010. It had grabbed a market share of 32% by value, and 29.5% by units sold. The company had sold more than 1,00,000 units during this quarter, more than the number of units sold by any other brand in the market. For the month of June alone, Sony had captured a significant market share, 33% by value and 29.5% by units. The company reported maximum sales in the states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu & West Bengal during this quarter. For starters, under the FPD TV market, the 22-inch, 32-inch & 40-42 inch segment comprises of more than 75% of LCD units sold in the country. And interestingly, Bravia was the leader in all the three categories.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

B&E This Fortnight

2013-04-04T15:54:00.001+05:30

INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS, ECONOMY & FINANCEUs debt deal done

After months of political wrangling and partisan posturing by both Republicans and Democrats in the Republican-led House of Representatives, President Barack Obama and his team were finally able to cut a deal that allows the US to trim its bulging deficit and raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by more than $2 trillion in extra borrowing power, which will last till 2013. The agreement reached paves the way for $2.1 trillion in spending cuts spread over 10 years and creates a congressional committee to recommend a deficit-reduction package by late November. But the deal does not include any tax increases that Obama had pressed hard to include. Had this last-minute deal not come about, it would have led to a historic US default on payments to investors in Treasury bonds, recipients of social security pension checks, those relying on military veterans benefits and businesses that work for the government. Now that an agreement has been sealed, though after much fractious debate, the US and the world can breathe easy. It will help preserve America’s top notch credit rating, reassure investors in financial markets across the globe and possibly reverse the losses that spread across Wall Street in recent days as the threat of a default grew. However rating agencies may still downgrade America’s current AAA debt rating on concerns about the struggling US economy.

Sprint-lightsquared
The US’s first integrated 4G-LTE wireless broadband and satellite network, LightSquared, has announced a $9-billion network hosting deal with Sprint Nextel. The deal covers spectrum hosting and network services, 4G wholesale, and 3G roaming. LightSquared will pay the deal amount in cash within 11 years even though the time frame for the deal spans 15 years. Moreover, this agreement brings home the opportunity for Sprint to purchase 50% of LightSquared’s expected L-Band 4G capacity. On the other hand, the deal is beneficial for LightSquared for it expects to save $13 billion on network capital & operating expenses. The deal is expected to be a win-win for both, and will enable setting up a separate platform for Sprint Nextel’s hosting opportunities.

ExxonMobil profits
Riding on the high prices of oil and gasoline, the largest oil company in the US - ExxonMobil reported a 53% increase in its fourth quarter profits. ExxonMobil earned $10.7 billion for the quarter, up from $7.56 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. In the second quarter of the current year, ExxonMobil had increased its production by 10% leading to a 41% increase in its quarterly earnings. Earnings were $2.18 per diluted common share, falling short of analysts’ consensus forecast of $2.33, but still much better than last year. ExxonMobil in 2009 had bought natural gas explorer c for $25 billion and has recently purchased two companies in the gas rich Marcellus Shale area across Pennsylvania. The acquisition has boosted its production to an equivalent of 4.9 million barrels of oil a day.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

“It’s all Good in Canada.” Really?!

2013-04-01T17:23:00.001+05:30

During The Recent Election Campaign The Newly elected Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper touted Conservatives as The Best Economic Managers The Country has ever had. But can his so-called ‘Best Brigade’ Assure Canada of a growth that’s really sustainable in The Long run?

On May 30, 2011, when the 308-seat House of Commons of Canada next rises, it will be dominated by 167 Conservatives. Well, this certainly means a lot to Stephen Harper, who, despite winning two previous elections (Harper was first sworn in as Canada’s Prime Minister in 2006), has never before held a majority government. But then, does this really mean anything to the Canadian economy which, perhaps, is standing on the verge of a slowdown?

Interestingly, all this while, Harper has been repeatedly telling Canadians that the Conservatives are the “Best Economic Managers” that the country has ever had, and it’s because of them that Canada bounced back strongly from the global financial crisis. “But are they, really?” is the question that several have been asking on the streets of Ottawa & Toronto since March 25, 2011 when Canadian opposition parties had brought down Harper’s government by supporting a motion of no confidence that held Harper in contempt of Parliament for refusing to share financial details of decisions taken by him with the House.

No doubt, to some extent Harper seems right, as of the seven industrialised nations that comprise the G7, Canada clearly stands out when it comes to economic recovery from the recent recession. It not only expanded at an annual pace of 5.8%, but also recovered both the employment and real output losses that accrued over the troubled course, in just one year. But then, though Harper now has the clear mandate to deliver on his promises and the freedom to do so without much intervention from the opposition, there are many who still doubt his claims. And, there are good reasons for Canadians to be sceptical of Harper’s claims and even more reasons to be worried about what his promises (currently, the Harper administration projects a deficit of $29.5 billion for this fiscal year and a return to surpluses by 2014-2015) and policies would mean for Canada’s economic future.

After growing at a red hot annualised rate of 5.8% in Q1 2010, Canadian economic growth had come down to just 1.8% in Q3, 2010. Though the GDP growth has unexpectedly risen to 3.33% in Q4 2010, the celebration isn’t going to last long as domestic demand, which so far fuelled this growth, is all set to decrease in the near future. While a still healthy job market (employment growing at 2% y-o-y in Q1 2011) should continue to fuel domestic demand, there are several potential headwinds that need to be avoided. Further, with the benefits of the inventory swing (inventory rebuilding had accounted for over 33% of GDP growth in 2009) behind and the boost from government stimulus (over $60 billion in 2009 and 2010) fading, how is that Harper’s so called “Best Economic Managers” going to sustain Canada’s economic boom in the long run? In fact, they have yet to explain how they will find $1.6 billion in cuts already booked in the 2011 budget.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist). For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Still very Stuck with a ‘P’rofound ‘E’xuberance

2013-03-28T12:05:00.000+05:30

Though Sensex has been Correcting itself Since Last November, at Current PE, it looks Overvalued. And with Jittery Corporate profit growth Forecasts, it is surely due for Further Correction.

24.15 was the PE multiple (price to earnings) of Sensex when the BSE benchmark scaled its lifetime high of 21,005 for a day in November last year. At the same time, that was the value which made many analysts act like disciples of Yale professor Robert Shiller calling the market movements “irrational exuberance” (Author of Irrational Exuberance Shiller, using Cyclically Adjusted PE model, had claimed at the peak of dotcom bubble that markets are overvalued and soon it succumbed to the bubble burst bringing glory to the author). And as we know since then, the Sensex has rolled down 12.21% to close at 18,439 on March 14, 2011. But the million dollar question that still worries a common investor is that, with the Sensex PE reading 20.02 currently – against 10-year average (quarterly) of 18 – can we say that the index is operating at a sustainable value or is it just a breather before another major correction?

Before getting into the details one first needs to understand what does PE multiple of an index stand for? In simple words, Sensex PE at 20 means Sensex is now valued at 20 times the cumulative earning power of its 30 constituents. Even if it sounds arbitrarily high for a common investor, in true terms, it is nothing new for the Sensex, more so for that the index has sustained over this value for over 18 months between 2006 and 2008. So, what is the problem that we are talking about?

Well, it’s actually the change in conditions, both economic and market. The most critical fact about the PE multiple of Sensex is that it is based on the anticipated earning power of the companies and while the economic conditions were suitable in 2006-07 to achieve rapid growth, it’s bleak at present. Although the reviving demand, both in the domestic market and globally, will provide Indian companies a boost in sales, the real task is to maintain the kind of profit margin that they are used to. If a substantial rise in raw material prices in the last year was not enough to dampen the momentum, rising crude oil price (already gone past $100 per barrel) is ensuring that the corporate profit in the coming months falls below market expectations. And the trend is already setting in. Considering the quarter-on-quarter cumulative net profit of Sensex companies in 2010, the growth quotient has fallen from 15.41% in the March quarter to 8.45% in December, threatening the market confidence and of course, the future value of the index.

In fact, discounting for the negative sentiments, the Sensex, which offered a mind boggling 157% between March 2009 and November 2010, has already lost over 12% since then. Whereas, global indices like Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 have advanced 4.3% and 6.3% respectively during the same period. For that matter, despite being on the receiving end, other BRIC benchmark indices have confined their losses to 6 to 8%. In fact, the Russian RTS index has gained a mind-boggling 18.5% during the same period.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

“We Need a Real Estate Regulator”

2013-03-18T16:05:00.000+05:30

Kamal Khetan, CMD, Sunteck, has taken Sunteck to Unimaginable Levels Within a decade. He talks to Mona Mehta about The Present and The Future
Sunteck Realty started their business in 2000 from Mumbai and have gone on to become Mumbai’s second largest real estate player with a plethora of premium offerings in the residential and commercial segments. Kamal Khetan, the founder promoter and present Chairman and Managing Director of the Sunteck Group, reveal the success model of the story and the fast changing real estate landscape in the country in an exclusive interview:

B&E: How do you rate Sunteck Realty’s performance on the financial front and what have been the kind of targets achieved till now and also set by you?
Kamal Khetan (KK): Our financial performance this year has been extremely good. The cumulative sales are Rs.1.43 billion (bn) and customer advances stand at Rs.4.35 bn in September 2010. We continue to achieve higher volumes and higher sales realization across our projects. This is a growth of about 40% over the corresponding period last financial year on revenue. We are confident of achieving our target of FY11 and have targeted cumulative sales of Rs.20 bn by year end out of which, we have already achieved more than Rs.1.6 bn till date. On all projects, we are achieving a minimum premium of 25% to 30% in each market.

B&E: What has the major focus of the top management in terms of managing cash flows especially when home equity is increasing with regards to loans? What has been your overall growth strategy so far?
(KK): The company remains focused on acquisitions it also believes in utilizing each rupee generated from internal accruals for further acquisitions. Our cash flow remains strong and our volumes and price points are only growing. We don’t believe that the increase in home equity (required for home loans) is impacting the volumes or price point of our products.

B&E: How do you believe that the real estate industry has evolved over the years in India and what are the major policy or institutional changes required in the near future?
(KK): The real estate industry will continue to be a high growth sector, with a significant potential not only to provide homes and business locations but also sustainable employment. In the medium to long term, we expect the industry to benefit from newer construction technology, design and building automation, as well as green technology. We expect to form larger partnerships with government and local bodies to develop comprehensive high density developments with requisite infrastructure and public amenities for all. We believe that the country requires a real estate regulator. This will help in making the sector more organized and customers and stakeholders to gain confidence in the industry.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

B&E’S POWER TALK SERIES

2013-03-12T15:03:00.000+05:30

Head – Marketing, Dhanlaxmi Bank in Conversation With B&E’s Mona Mehta

B&E: How critical is marketing for the regional private banks? How is Dhanlaxmi Bank dealing with it?
SM: For a bank, which is a new entrant it is imperative that the consumers know about the bank and what it has to offer. In a cluttered and non-differentiated market capturing a share of mind is difficult. And it is even more challenging to build an imagery of a modern and a contemporary bank (where people had a perception that it is a co-operative bank). Every initiative has been a combat to the perception that the market had about the bank. The colour (purple) that the brand sports, differentiates itself from the blue and red colour palette in the market place. Meanwhile, Dhanlaxmi Bank has recently launched its signature branch at Prabhadevi in Mumbai. The branch has a new bright contemporary design. The customer journey in the branch gives an experience of openness to the consumers. Every message in the branch talk to the consumer, listen to their story and give them a solution. In fact, now we have decided to use the same design, look and feel in all the new branches that will be added to the existing network.

B&E: Over the past year or so the bank has become really aggressive in increasing its customer base. What are your plans to support the cause?
SM: In the past 18 months the effort has been to build the brand imagery. Various on-ground initiatives have been taken for the same. To take the bank from one region, where it is a household name to the other parts of the country, where it is almost unknown – the challenges are multiple and varied. On one hand the task is to re-assure the customers that while the brand has changed, the core remains unchanged; on the other hand the objective is to create awareness about the brand and get consumers to the bank. So, various micro-marketing initiatives have been rolled out for the 275 branches across 16 states. Every branch has been given a calendar of events to be implemented. The effort is to link the marketing initiative to generate leads and get a better return on every rupee spent. In its 83-year history, the bank has started implementing marketing initiatives only during the past 18 months. The marketing strategy for every region varies as per the business objective. On a larger scale there will be a national advertising campaign.

B&E: You are currently expanding in a jiffy. How are you ensuring your brand visibility in those parts of the country where the bank has just arrived?
SM: We are investing aggressively for the on-ground activation programs in catchment area of our 275 branches and educate consumers on the new brand, products and services that the bank has to offer. The 100 plus new branches that we will launch in the next financial year will be as per the new look and feel. All the branches that we re-furbish will also be as per the new branch design.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Vulcanos Erupt at 145 Decibel...

2013-03-07T15:32:00.001+05:30

When Several AK-47 and Vulcanos Erupt at 145 Decibel...

A firecracker is a Class-7 explosive, and if it doesn’t meet the prescribed norms, it could be classified as an explosive. Another prime concern is that the manufacturers do not print the decibel output of a firecracker on the packet. This leads to further ambiguity pertaining to the noise impact of the cracker.

Otorhinolaryngologist Dr. Ajit Man Singh of Max Hospital, Saket seconds that the inflated noise emissions could be potentially harmful to the ear. “Children and senior citizens are most vulnerable,” he says. The thorny truth is that even noise-free zones like hospitals lie exposed. Max Hospital, for instance, is surrounded by residential colonies where joyous residents celebrate Diwali with synergetic passion. But therein lies another problem. While the SC had Okayed manufacturing 125dB output crackers, it subsequently imposed a noise restriction of 55 dB in residential areas. Thus further complicating things for the already inefficient enforcers.

Diwali in India is more than just a festival of Hindus. It’s a celebration that reflects communal harmony, to say the least. But as the beautiful sparks and rockets juxtapose and disappear into the night sky, the constant ‘explosion’ resonating in the background is anything but a symphony. Come to think of it, the unnecessary bass has been added to Diwali only after a certain evolution in technology. After all, the people of Ayodhya did celebrate Lord Ram’s victory over Raavan by lighting up the city, with no peculiar soundtrack in the background...

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Taliban was not only willing to hand over Bin Laden to the US

2013-03-06T11:10:00.000+05:30

Documents suggest that in the years leading to 9/11, Taliban was not only willing to hand over Bin Laden to the US but also warned the latter of an impending terrorist attack

For example, an ISI official told visiting US Congressmen that “Pakistan will always support the Taliban”. This “policy cannot change”, he continued, because “it would prompt rebellion across the Northwest Frontier Provinces, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and indeed on both sides of the Pashtun-dominated Pak-Afghan border.”

It is now common knowledge that the US had been asking the Taliban to hand over Laden since 1999. These discussions stopped only a week before the 9/11 attack. However, the US was so adamant on its stand that Laden be tried by the Department of Justice— and not in a third country as Taliban suggested— that Taliban refused to hand him over. Officials described it as a missed opportunity. The former CIA station chief Milt Bearden said, “We never heard what they were trying to say. We had no common language. Ours was, ‘Give up bin Laden.’ They were saying, ‘Do something to help us give him up’.” Bearden added, “I have no doubts Taliban wanted to get rid of him. He was a pain in the neck but this never clickedwith us”. The US thought it was “unreasonable” on Taliban’s part to ask for evidence indicting Laden. Taliban, on its part, even cautioned the US that Laden was planning a big attack on American soil. In fact, former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil maintained that his repeated warnings, delivered because of apprehensions that the US would respond by waging war against Afghanistan, had been dismissed. US officials admitted to this fact but said that warnings were dismissed because they were “hearing a lot of that kind of stuff”.

Declining the Taliban’s offer to have Laden handed over shows that the US rather followed the policy of regime change well before the 9/11 happened. India was considered to have joined Russia, the USA and Iran in a conjunct front against Taliban, which enclosed aid for Northern Alliance, including “information and logistic support” from Washington. Former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Niaz Naik claimed that he had been informed by senior US officials as early as in July 2001 that military action would be taken against the Taliban by the middle of October. Readies had already been coordinated with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. Naik also said that “it was doubtful that Washington would drop its plan even if Bin Laden were to be surrendered immediately by the Taliban.”

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles