Wednesday, June 02, 2010

There’s a lot about Hrithik Roshan that hasn’t changed with the stardom he’s attained

Anurag says that “Kites” has changed you a lot as a person too. Would you agree?

I think it’s quite true because I have evolved. In fact, the person inside me changes with every film. I’ve been doing “Guzaarish” for the past 8-9 months where I see the world go by through the eyes of a paralysed man. So, all films teach me a lot. It helps me to filter out all the significant things from the trivial issues that would bother me every day.

So has this change helped you become a better actor as well?

Yeah, definitely. I think your work is a reflection of the person you are and how you live your life. You, as a person, are inseparable from the work that you do. So if you want to create anything that has to have a value, you have to live that kind of life to develop those instincts to create that. The experiences that I’ve had in the journey of my life have helped me learn and grow. And your interpretation of life in your work subconsciously travels into the hearts of the audience who are watching you. So it’s always you that will reflect in your work. You know, it’s like, between the painting and the painter, one can’t say which is better. A painting is the manifestation of the painter’s vision of the world that he portrays in the painting. It’s as simple as that.

Which is the most memorable moment that you have of “Kites”?

When Anurag Basu narrated the script was the most memorable moment. It was at a point when I was contemplating not continuing as an actor because of my knee problem. I had given up and was depressed and heart-broken. I didn’t want to continue as a compromised actor, you know. I was at a crossroad of sorts, thinking of what do I do ahead of here. And then came “Kites”. When Anurag narrated the script to me, I could see my face on that character. I had a vision and that the vision was so strong that I knew it had to manifest. I just kept struggling and working on it and imagine that right before the shoot, in fact on the day of the shoot my knee healed, quite dramatically!
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Setback to vedanta

Foundation asked to stop all construction works

Anil Agarwal’s plan to establish the Rs. 150 billion Vedanta University in Orissa has hit a roadblock. On May 11, 2010, the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment has kept in abeyance the environmental and Coastal Regulatory Zone clearance that it had granted for the establishment of the proposed education institution near the Puri-Konark marine drive spread over 6,892 acre. Besides that, the Ministry has also directed the Foundation to stop further construction on the site. The Ministry has issued the letter after objections raised during the Orissa Coastal Zone Management Authority Meeting.

In July 2006, the Orissa government signed an MoU with the Vedanta Foundation, later renamed the Anil Agarwal Foundation, for setting up the Vedanta University an par with world-class universities like Stanford, Oxford, Harvard etc. Later on, Vedanta’s proposal to acquire 6,000 acres on the Puri-Konark coastal belt rolled into the rough because of environmental concerns. But the government, after considering the issues, decided to pass a bill in July 2009 to allow the university to be set up.

This led to petitions being filed in the Lok Pal by labour union leader Dwaraka Mohan Mishra. Justice R.K.Patra of Lok Pal subsequently expressed his views over the previous MoU for land allotment to Vedanta University. In a 26 page order, the Lok Pal observed: “The MoU signed by the parties doesn’t constitute a legally enforceable contract.” The Lok Pal’s findings indicated that the 6,000 acres targeted by the Foundation includes 1,300 acres of arable land belonging to the Jagannath Temple and another large stretch of land containing huge quantities of thorium and other rare minerals. This apparently violates the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and the Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1954.

But the Lok Pal logically also supported the project in a neutral way. Justice Patra has asked the State government to constitute a vigilance cell to monitor the progress of the project. Besides, Lok Pal wants the government to offer land to the foundation in phases to ensure the full educational use of the land. But the recent direction issued by the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment seems to be the toughest one for Vedanta as the environmental and Coastal Regulatory Zone clearance is imperative for the university to come up without future hindrances.

Given that the Foundation still has much at stake in Orissa – and not all this stake commercial – it would be highly pertinent for both the Ministry and the Foundation to get into a mode of resolving the issue rather than keeping it hanging, more so as a positive resolution of the issue would perchance provide Orissa with a university at global standards – something that Orissa direly needs to up its global investment image – and a negative resolution would free up the land for alternative use. Non-resolution of the issue could put a bad light on future investments into the state.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Monday, May 03, 2010

Tipplers left high and dry

Breweries work overtime to meet soaring demand

Beer is in short supply in Kerala. Many outlets of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (BEVCO) are hanging hoardings: ‘Beer out of stock.’ It is a hard time for beer drinkers in the state. However, some 337 BEVCO outlets are working 24 × 7 to meet the demand of the customers.

Kerala banned arrack, the locally-made liquor in 1989. The current Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who played an important role in the ban of arrack, was the then chief minister of the state. From then onwards the state took the responsibility of providing safe alcohol through a regulated system. But now, the black marketing of alcohol thrives even as the state provides plenty of liquor through BEVCO. Official statistics show that more than 80,000 people visit BEVCO outlets every day. There are 600 bars in addition to 5,000 toddy (palm wine) shops across the state. The total income through liquor is around 40 per cent of the state revenue. That is why officials are fretting over the shortage of beer.

What is the real cause for this unprecedented crisis? Is it an artificially created problem? These and other questions are being discussed by beer lovers. While presenting the budget, the government announced that beer would cost less. Sources say the profit of margin is between Rs 5 and 10. Most of the experts don’t know the main reason behind the sudden shortage of beer in the state. But BEVCO managing director N.Sankar Reddy has the answer. He told TSI that the sharp increase in consumption has led to the shortage of beer. “Last year, the consumption of beer was eight lakh bottles per day during this time. But now it rose to 13 lakh bottles. Kerala, having a production capacity of about 10 to 12 lakh bottles a day, is working overtime for maximum production,” he said. He doesn’t agree with those people who say that the shortage started only after beer supply from Karnataka was stopped. The state receives only a small quantity of beer from other states, he said. Two new Hyderabad companies are willing to supply beer.

Of late, anti-liquor movements and religious bodies have criticised the state government for its liquor policy. Officials say they are implementing prohibition stage by stage. Sociologists say it would be an arduous task that too in a state where consumption of liquor is the highest in India. There has been a 100 per cent hike in consumption in the last four years. And most of the beer lovers are youths.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Darkness at noon

Dependants of jawans killed by Maoists struggle to stay afloat. A report from Orissa by TSI’s Dhrutikam Mohanty

Two years of anguish have gone by since Mase Madkami’s husband, an SGO jawan, lost his life in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists. But life hasn’t returned to normal for the 25-year-old woman. She lives in the southern Orissa village of Udupa, 25 km from the Malkangari district headquarters. Her hut, located in a distant corner of this tribal hamlet, has four rooms. Her husband, Ganga Madkami, was the family’s sole breadwinner. Today, the responsibility of their eight-year-old son and Ganga’s ageing parents is on Mase’s frail shoulders.

We reach her house at dusk. Her son, Sunadhar, is studying in the front room. Mase is busy cleaning a lantern. Udupa does not have electricity. In a while, the lantern will be the only source of light in this benighted home. “I never imagined I’d ever have to see such dark days,” Mase begins to narrate her tale of woes. “Five days after the incident, the chief minister handed out cheques to the families of the martyrs. He also promised each affected family a job, a plot of land and other government benefits. He had tears in his eyes. We had reason to believe that we’d be taken care of by the government.”

But Mase’s hopes were dashed. “For six months I ran from one office to another to get my dues. I finally received Rs 4 lakh as compensation and Rs 10 lakh for his life insurance. But I am still waiting for the promised job and land,” she says.

Her problems have increased manifold with the passage of time. She has to travel to Bhubaneswar every month to collect the family pension. Being a single lady, she is usually accompanied by somebody from the village, which entails additional expenses. At times she has to travel to the state capital more than once for the same purpose. Sometimes the officers concerned are not available. At other times, the processing of her payment is deferred. “We are illiterate poor villagers and don’t know much about government procedures. But running around like this for what was promised to me is actually hurting me more than my husband’s death,” says Mase, tears welling up in her eyes.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Is it too little... and too late?

Reforms in coal sector, on which India’s power generation is heavily dependent, have seen a faint light on the distant horizon courtesy reform proposals in this budget. B&E’s anchal gupta argues that the steps may be too small considering the delay and a lot more needs to be done, quickly.

“Not a penny off the pay, not a second on the day.” This blunt reply by the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), the national union of mine workers to coal mine owners was a spark that ignited the chain reaction culminating in the famous 1926 General Strike in the United Kingdom. Mine owners, under the veil of a soaring pound, hurting exports and low productivity of mines decided on wage cuts to normalise profits. Despite massive subsidies to the coal mine owners, the wage cuts were implemented. The strike began on May 3 and lasted for 10 days. In the aftermath, coal mining was forever transformed in UK with the extra labour being sucked out and productivity rocketing from below 100 tonne per miner per annum to over 300 tonne by the World War II.

Swivel back to the present and India’s coal mining output still hovers at less than 200 tonne for some of its mines while the average productivity is less than one tenth of mining giants in US and Australia. And despite a new glimmer of hope in the form of proposals to reform the sector in this years’ budget, the pertinent question remains: Is it too little… too late? But for all the hype surrounding renewable energy and efficient usage, India stands tall among the planet’s most un-efficient energy user (read massive wasters). And, till date, more than 53% of our electricity is generated in power plants fueled by the black treasure hidden deep below our rocky terrains. Estimates suggest that by 2012, India will stare at more than 100 million metric tonnes (MMT) of coal shortage and around 250 MMT by 2025. Ironically, we have the world’s largest coal miner Coal India Ltd. (CIL), a Navratna PSU. The repercussions are perilous.

According to Girish Solanki, Energy analyst, Religare, “The coal mined in India has not been enough to meet the demand. The shortage has resulted in loss of electricity generation in power plants. The power companies in India imported coal in FY2009 to keep the plants running. Coal India, for the first time in history, resorted to import of coal in FY2009. Further the calorific value of coal mined in India is at 4,000-5,000 kcal/kg. substantially lower than the coal mined in countries like Indonesia which have calorific value in excess of 6,500 kcal/kg.” The impending entry of mining giant, Trimex to strike long term coal supply contracts with Indian power producers is just the beginning of the dark tunnel. Courtesy archaic laws and divided authority over every link of the value chain, much of the coal remains buried and much of India remains dark.

In fact not just power, other core sectors dependent on coal feel strangled too. As per Ashok Jainani, Analyst, Khandavala Securities, “India largely depends on imported metallurgical coal for steel making. Our met-coke imports are as high as 80% of requirements and the situation is likely to remain so in the foreseeable future. As regards thermal coke, it still remains highly protected business within government control.”
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009


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

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