Who let this dog out?

Carnal pleasures come in the way of the beautiful bond shared between man and man’s best friend...

Man has marked his territory around the globe and has tampered with nature, science, society and more… With unlimited demands and unsatiated, often bizarre cravings, human beings have always done as desired. Crime against nature and fellow humans was known, and common, but crime against man’s best friend has come to the fore as an eye-opener. The recent case of Mahesh Kamath, a Mumbai-based taxi driver who was caught red-handed while raping a female dog on 29th August, has enraged animal rights activists, dog lovers and law enforcers alike. Any human being having the slightest of sensitivity for another life form would feel strongly about this shameful act. Bestiality, it seems, has seeped into the minds of a certain few who obviously do not believe in drawing the line at anything.

Dogs have a natural affinity towards humans and their companionship can be traced back to the history of man’s evolution. Mental health professionals and law-enforcement officials consider cruelty to animals, including zoophilia (sexual contact with animals), as a warning signal. A recent study by Jory, Fleming, and Burton shows that 96 percent of offenders who had engaged in bestiality also admitted to sexual assaults on humans. “Disregard for the suffering of animals should be viewed as a red flag, because people who abuse animals rarely do so only once, and will often move on to abuse fellow human beings. Studies also show that offenders who commit bestiality may go on to commit sex crimes against humans. The community should follow this case closely,” says PETA Campaigns Manager NG Jayasimha.

As far as the law in India is concerned, Section 377 suggests, “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine”, says Amarjyoti Sharma, Advocate, Supreme Court of India. Now whether the crime is proven or not, depends on the efforts of specialists and experts. After going through a very scientific as well as a tedious process of collecting clues and evaluating their credibility, the forensic experts would forward their verdict. This would be instrumental in the legal proceedings

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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A racket called Vir

When Vir Das opens his mouth, you do too… to laugh! For India’s best-known stand-up comedian, interviews – like this one to Neha Sarin – are shoehorned into a day’s work…


If it takes genius to create comedy, and madness to fuel genius, how much of Vir Das is pure madness?

I don’t know if it takes genius to create comedy. I think it just takes suffering, insomnia, alcohol and extended periods of celibacy. As far as my own personal madness goes, it’s only when I’m on stage; the only area of my life where I am completely fearless…

There are countless comics around…What's Vir Das’ USP? How are you different from say, Russell Peters, Dave Chappelle, or even Jim Carrey in his heyday...?

I think my USP is how little my act really is. I don’t do race, I don’t do topical, I don’t do political. I simply do observational. My act is all about the little things in life that you never ever imagined would be funny by virtue of how mundane they are. That’s what is interesting to me – to make comedy out of what is popularly considered ‘insignificant’. Plus what really sets me apart from the other PROs – they seem to have money.

How different is Vir Das, the man, from Vir Das, the performer?

They could not be more different. Vir Das, the performer, is outgoing, fearless, witty and edgy. Vir Das, the man, is introverted, shy, a homebody and socially retarded.

Which part of the world would you want be reborn in?

Somewhere Angelina Jolie schedules her adoptions.

Who is your favorite stand-up comedian?

Bill Cosby. Never has there been an observational comic like Cosby in his early years. Took the littlest things and made them funny. ‘Made soup out of rocks’.

Which daily routine of yours would you wish to outsource?

Hmmm…shaving. I have never understood why men do it. Covering your entire face in foam, looking like Santa Claus and then transforming yourself into a plucked chicken.


If you were to pull your own leg, what would you say?

I’m 5ft 9inches. I would rather pull both of them, try and stretch those buggers a bit.

What time in the day are you serious?

The five minutes before I go to sleep. I pray.

Five easy steps to becoming the best brown stand-up comedian in the world…

1. Become brown.

2. Don’t try and be funny.

3. Be truthful.

4. Have no fear.

5. Never forget that you have the best job in the world.

How do you switch modes between being an actor and a comedian?

It’s not that tough really. I trained as an actor for five years. It was the flaky serious body work, voice work, Stanislavski, Shakespeare, Chekhov five-year training that pushed me into stand up in the first place. It was my rebellion. Now that I am acting again, it’s like coming back to an old girlfriend. You never really got over her. Your next venture is “Delhi Belly”. How did you land such a ‘meaty’ role in an Aamir Khan production?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Valley of no return

Reduced to refugee status in their own land, uprooted Kashmiri Pandits live in the fond hope of a better tomorrow

The pain of deracination is writ large on 67-year-old Manohar Nath Raina’s face. Memories, two decades old, come rushing back. His eyes turn moist. And his voice chokes. But as he regains control of his nerves, he opens up, “My body lives here but I have left my soul on the chinar trees in my village in Kashmir”.

Raina, retired principal, wants to return to Kashmir, but the situation in his home state is still too precarious. He owns a mansion and stretches of land in Kanihama village, 19 km from Srinagar. But he now lives in a dingy one-room janta flat in Dwarka, a Delhi suburb. “I want to see my village once before I die,” says Raina.

Raina’s wish is shared by many other migrant Kashmiris who abandoned their land in fear and haste. It started in the late 1980s when local militants, fresh from training camps from across the border, targetted Kashmiri Pandits. Many died. Those that survived decided to flee. Shanties and decrepit tenements in Jammu became their new abode.

Though safe, Jammu offered little hope. Within years, a second exodus took place. Many left for other cities in north India. And so did Raina. Two of his sons, along with their families, came to Delhi and settled in the refugee camp at Balbir Nagar. Four years ago, the Delhi government allotted him a one room flat in Dwarka.

Bharat Bhushan, head of Kashmiri Sabha, a group of displaced Kashmiris, says, “Pandits are a learned lot. But we have no jobs. Our houses were snatched long ago, and now, without jobs, our youth are in despair. If the government wants to help us, it must provide jobs to economically backward youth.”

The jobless Bhushan had a flourishing business in the valley. The company he initially worked with in Delhi shut down. After a long struggle, he joined another firm. Then the recession struck. He was the first to be retrenched. His immediate concern is not how to return to Kashmir. His son’s school fees are his first priority.

This is a common story in every refugee camp you visit. Because of their education levels and acumen, they once dominated the government job scene in Kashmir, but no more. When the exodus started, there were more than 15,000 Pandits in government jobs. The corresponding figure after two decades is merely 3,000. If we accept the figures provided by Panun Kashmir, an organisation working for the rehabilitation of Pandits, only 400 Pandits have been offered state government jobs.

Of the four lakh Pandits who left Kashmir, two and a half lakhs reside in refugee camps and rented homes in Jammu. One lakh reside in Delhi and other north Indian towns. Many of them want to return to their land and Panun Kashmir has a plan in place. It has submitted the detailed plan to the government. It suggests declaring a portion of the state a Union Territory where Pandits can be settled. “Most of the plans regarding resettlement and reinstating Pandits are gathering dust in government offices. The government always goes back on its promise. It talks about returning our land and houses and yet protects terrorists,” says Utpal Kaul, vice president of Panun Kashmir.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Sugar politics - Bowing to the barons

But for the favourable court orders, the farmer would surely have perished by now

VM Singh

Convener, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan

The price of sugar has nearly doubled in the last 12 months: from Rs 18 per kg to Rs 34. So who is to blame? Those who hold the farmer responsible and allege that he is holding the mills to ransom don’t know what they are talking about. Just consider: Last year sugarcane in UP sold at Rs 140 per quintal; and the year before that the mills paid Rs 110 against the “state advised price” of Rs 125. During the corresponding period in the last two years its price hovered between Rs 12 and Rs 18 per kg.

The fact is that even when the mills paid Rs 140 for a quintal of sugar, and its price ranged between Rs 16 and Rs 18 per kg, they made huge profits. The entire stock in the country, whether it is with the miller or the government, consists of sugar manufactured from cane cost Rs 140. If you ask me the culprit is none else but the government which has done nothing to arrest the spiralling prices, and quietly allowed mill owners to double them. The Sugar Control Order and the Sugarcane Control Order framed under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act empower the government to fix the prices of sugar and sugarcane. The government never has a problem fixing the price of the latter – it is only when it comes to sugar that its complacency becomes visible. The Central government should have fixed the price of sugar at Rs 18 per quintal – which was the market price when crushing operations closed; though even at this price the mills have made huge profits in recent years.

Sugar only accounts for 50 to 60 per cent of the revenue that the mills earn from sugarcane. But the government looked on passively even when mill owners were selling sugar for Rs 34 per kg. And this despite the fact that the manufacturing rate during the season was between Rs 10 and Rs 12 per kg, and the mills made huge profits selling sugar for Rs 18 per quintal. It is extremely unfortunate that the mills are being allowed to import raw sugar to offset this year’s reduced sugarcane supply. The government never intervened when there was excess cane and the farmer was left with no other option than to burn it.


In the past 15 years the mills have often been reduced to begging the farmer to plant more sugarcane. But when it is payback time, the deadline is never met. So why is the government allowing the mill owners to import raw sugar? – a move that can only make them more complacent? For, if that happens, they will be able to do without the farmer. Does the government know how suicidal this act is? Fine, the mills have been bailed out. But is it realised that the farmer too is going to be tempted to reduce the sugarcane growing area?

If the government intervenes, it must stand up for both the farmers and the mill owners. Consider that every time the farmers grow excess cane at the millers’ request, the latter take advantage of it and bring down the rate. They do this by getting their agents to supply the cane to them at half the rates.

What we urgently need is a clear policy to regulate sugarcane output. I have been fighting for the rights of sugarcane farmers in the SC and the high courts for the past 15 years. In its counter-affidavits the government admitted that the area of sugarcane cultivation having shrunk drastically, the output too was bound to fall. Yet at the same time the government opened up export of sugar and reduced its buffer.

In 1995-96 the government exported sugar to Pakistan through the State Trading Corporation, and the following year due to shortages the same sugar was imported back! Farmers are bound by the cane price fixed by the state governments, and even for that they have to go in for extensive litigation. There are mills that have still not paid the arrears of 2003-04. In 2006-07 when the cane price was Rs 125 per quintal, the mills wanted to pay just Rs 80.25 per quintal. It was only after the SC intervened that the full payment was made. Instead of the SAP of Rs 125 per quintal the mills wanted to pay Rs. 81.31 per quintal, but ended up paying Rs. 110 per quintal after the apex court order.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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However, no such action was taken in Saran’s case. What’s more, his number too was barred from using the facility to talk to a customer care executive because of his repeated calls. In fact, this is more of a practice at Vodafone. Just hit Google and you will find several users complaining about how they were barred from using the customer care service as they called often with complaints.

Saran visited the Vodafone store in Ansal Plaza, New Delhi and there too he was treated with similar hostility by the store executives. After narrating the entire story to the executive, this is the reply he received, ‘Why should we mention on the card, when it was initially for all the customers. We have communicated to our dealers orally. It is their fault.” However, when this magazine checked with the dealers they refused receiving any such communication. PC Shukla, a south Delhi-based dealer comments, “We were not informed by the company about any change in the scheme. In fact when I got consumer complaints, I checked and only then I came to know that the Bonus Card facility was now available only for the new customers.” At the Vodafone store, Saran was told that an SMS was sent to all customers for withdrawal of the Bonus Card services. But when he claimed not receiving any such SMS, the executive started putting the entire blame on the dealers again. So this time Saran decided to speak to the store manager who arrogantly retorted, “We don’t give all information in our ads. It’s the customers’ responsibility to check the details with the company before buying any card… We are not responsible.” This response is contrary to TRAI's direction of September 2005, which mandated all telecom service providers to not offer, market or advertise any tariff plan in a manner that is likely to mislead the subscribers.

Saran also enquired why and how was the card still available in the market for everyone and why Vodafone has not taken it back from the dealers to which the manager replied, “The dealer should return the card to us…” Again when pushed by this harassed customer that it’s Vodafone’s fault, the manager came up with a hilarious example. “If you buy a computer from a company and there is a problem you go to the dealer from whom you have bought and it’s the dealer’s fault,” is what the manager argued in Vodafone’s defense. A trained manager at a Vodafone store compares a telecom service with a product! Phew! This shows the company’s callous attitude towards hiring and training their staff.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Sohrabuddin fake encounter case

Supreme Court is extending jurisdiction of Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the leadership of ex-CBI head R K Raghvan to re-investigate riot cases after the Godhara carnage. Gujarat High Court rejected a petition of BJP’s ex-MLA Kalu Maliwad demanding that SIT cannot summon and interrogate Chief Minister Modi. If SIT summons and interrogates Modi, he will be probably the first CM in the country facing such a situation.

Sohrabuddin fake encounter case

A case of fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Shaikh in Narol on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2004 is still in the limelight. Last week, the Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat government to compensate Sohrab’s family. Moreover, the Gujarat High Court has ordered the reexamining of another controversial encounter – that involving one Isharat Jahan and three others in April-2004.

Non-action in the Asaram Bapu case

In 2008, two boys residing in a well known spiritual leader Asaram Bapu’s Motera ashram were found dead on the banks of Sabarmati river. It was clear in primary investigations that the duo was murdered; but after one year, police is still unable to crack the case.

Land controversies

Many farmers of six districts are protesting the decision of the state government to allot fertile plots of land to certain industrialists. Many farmers from Mahuva (Bhavnagar), Anavarpura (Patan), Zarpara (Kutch), Vadodara zala (Junagarh), Mocha (Porbandar) and Umargam (Valsad) have publicly pledged not to give their land to the state government for industrial use.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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All for free and fair vote

America’s pointsman Karzai faces his biggest challenge

In his plush cabin at an embassy in Delhi, a political attaché who had just returned from his assignment in Afghanistan had said this to me months ago, quiet nonchalantly: “Afghanistan is not a federation, in fact not even a confederation. It is merely a potpourri of states whhere people at times appear to walk in a common direction.” I remember, we had a hearty laugh then at the cost of Afghans.

But as the country goes to the polls in less than a week, those casually spoken words are falling in place. Probably, for the first time in the history of this country, it seems that a substantial portion of the population is willing to override their narrow tribal allegiance. And that has rattled all, including America and its once blue-eyed Pashtun, President Hamid Karzai. When the Bush Administration originally anointed Karzai as president years ago, he was perceived in Afghanistan and elsewhere as an adroit statesman exceptionally skilled in forging alliances among nation’s ever warring splinter groups. Eight years hence, as Afghanistan has worsened, so has Karzai’s standing. The same qualities that once earned him eulogies are now drawing all round criticism. Karzai is being called a mercurial and irresolute boss. And given that he overtly opposes American presence on his soil, he is widely held responsible for all that ails Afghanistan: Rampant corruption, a thriving opium business and Taliban’s resurrection.

“Regardless of his countless failings, Karzai has turned into a strongman, a boss whose deal-making skills and appeasing nature have allowed him to either marginalise his adversaries or turn them into allies,” Haroun Mir, an expert on Afghan politics at Centre for Research and Policy Studies, Kabul, tells TSI.

“And that may well translate into triumph at the polls.” That is what most of the prepoll surveys predict. Yet the possibility for a run-off has been rising because two of the 41 candidates have emerged as genuine contenders — former foreign affairs minister Abdullah Abdullah and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani. Surprisingly, both of them are canvassing in areas outside their representative bases. They are criticising Karzai for his weak governance.

For example, last week in Paktika Province, Abdullah struck a rebellious tone in front of several hundred Pashtuns — voters not conventionally sympathetic to the former Northern Alliance associates. Ghani — a former World Bank analyst who was in 2006 tipped for the job of UN Secretary General — on the other hand, is travelling north to non-Pashtun regions. A public meeting at Kabul University last week drew nearly 1,000 odd students — once considered rock solid social base for Karzai. But it seems that Ghani may finally opt out of the race in favour of Karzai, and will be suitably made “Chief Executive” of the new administration.

“Abdullah Abdullah was an advisor to Ahmed Shah Masood and that means a lot in Afghanistan. The ghost of Masood can draw enough vote to force Karzai for a run-off,” says Wadir Safi, an expert at Kabul University, while talking to TSI.

But it is not that Karzai is unprepared. He has formed his own rainbow coalition that appears impregnable. In fact, analysts insist that at the most, Abdullah can force Karzai for a run-off. A victory might still be elusive for him.

Karzai has promised to re-appoint as army chief of staff ex-warlord, Uzbek leader Gen Rashid Dostum — who has been right-hand man of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Ahmed Masood and Nazibullah at different times in history.

Karzai has also courted the Shia Hazara minority — a key swing vote — by promising to appoint more ministers from their community. Besides, they have been promised a separate province. Hazara leader Muhammad Mohaqeq and Tajik warlord Mohammad Fahim are now trusted allies. But for how long?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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