Rahul Gaitonde

Modern Britain, modern India and the Welfare State

2010-04-09T23:52:00.000+05:30

I highly recommend Andrew Marr's 'A History of Modern Britain', which I'm reading now. Marr covers politics very well, but ventures dutifully in every chapter into how life was for ordinary Britons: entertainment, clothing, holidaying, the movie and theatre industries and, well, the economy.

The book gathers steam with the general election of 1945 right after the end of World War II, with the defeat of Churchill's Conservatives and the election of Britain's Labour Government of 1945-50. Reading about this Government is a revelation: its vision and policies were strikingly similar to those the Nehru government of 1947-52 adopted. From the Wikipedia page for Labour:

Clement Attlee's proved one of the most radical British governments of the 20th century, presiding over a policy of nationalising major industries and utilities including the Bank of England, coal mining, the steel industry, electricity, gas, telephones and inland transport including railways, road haulage and canals. It developed and implemented the "cradle to grave" welfare state conceived by the economist William Beveridge. To this day the party considers the 1948 creation of Britain's publicly funded National Health Service under health minister Aneurin Bevan its proudest achievement.

For a conservative, this reads like a nightmare. But both Labour and Congress set their countries on the path of being governed by a Welfare State. Things worsened for both countries over the next three decades, into the seventies.

Yet Britain reacted differently from India, finally throwing its arms up and voting in Thatcher in '79, with a mandate to liberalize the economy and dismantle most of the mammoth welfare state. In India, around the same time in '77, the Congress was voted out of office too, for economic incompetence as much as for the Emergency. Yet the Janata government fumbled the ball. And even when the country did begin liberalization in '91, reform had to be (and continues to be) sneaked through.

What was it about Britons that they demanded - and got - change at the end of the '70s? What is it about Indians that not only do they seem content with clearly the sub-optimal state of affairs across sectors, but actually quote with pride from reports estimating India's GDP 'overtaking' Japan and the U.S. in some distant future.

Sustaining an Internet-based political movement

2009-11-25T16:16:00.000+05:30

George Packer of the New Yorker on what's become of the Obama Movement:

The most disappointed people I meet are under thirty, the generation that made the Obama campaign a movement in its early primary months. They spent their entire adult lives under the worst President of our lifetime, they loved Obama because he was new and inspiring, and they felt that replacing the former with the latter would be a national deliverance. They weren’t wrong about that, but the ebbing of grassroots energy once the Obama campaign turned to governing suggests that some of his most enthusiastic backers saw the election as an end in itself. The Obama movement was unlike other social movements because it began and ended with a person, not an issue. And it was unlike ordinary political coalitions because it didn’t have the organizational muscle of voting blocs. The difficulty in sustaining its intensity through the inevitable ups and downs of governing shows the vulnerability in this model of twenty-first-century, Internet-based politics.

Recently Read

2009-10-13T16:07:00.001+05:30

Inside the Crisis (The New Yorker) - A profile of Barack Obama's economic team, led by Larry Summers

Jet, set, no go: Highs and lows of Jet Airways (Forbes India, published by CNN-IBN) - Where Naresh Goyal's obsessive reliance on expat management has brought Jet Airways

Heckuva Job, Barack (NYT) - "Here was a chance to establish himself, definitively, as an American president — too self-confident to accept an unearned accolade, and too instinctively democratic to go along with European humbug. He didn’t take it. Instead, he took the Nobel Peace Prize."

The Real Peace Prize Will Be Elusive (NYT) - "Never on that night (in 2001), as we watched the might of the world’s most powerful nation rain down on the primitive army of soldiers clad in rags and sandals, did it occur to us that America so many years later would still be trying to figure out how to win — or whether it even could."

An Award Often Tinged by Politics (WSJ) - A look back at Nobel Peace Prize controversies.

Conservatism

2009-10-13T12:03:00.002+05:30

Despite their opposite ideologies, the BJP and the Democratic Party occupy the same position in their countries' politics. As do the Congress and the Republican party.

Which brings us to the very idea of conservatism - the political philosophy of maintaining the essence of an entity (a society, a people, a nation). Because America and India are essentially political opposites, conservatism is then the political philosophy of the Republican party - as commonly held - and the Congress party, not the BJP - not so commonly held.

That because the BJP's philosophy of Hindutva harks back to values of an ancient time, it is conservative is inaccurate because our frame of reference is India as the political entity it is today. How far back in history will you go with the USA if you apply that same logic? The days of the Mayflower Puritans? The American Indians?

So, since the BJP has spent all of its existence trying to change India's core values, it is definitely not the country's Conservative party. That also means, finally, that conservatism isn't always center-right politics; liberalism isn't always center-left. That is at best a blinkered western world-view, and at worst a basic lack of understanding of the very meaning of conservatism.

Past parallels trump present philosophy

2009-10-12T19:45:00.002+05:30

Even the NYT couldn't resist the tempation to draw comparisons between the BJP and the US Republicans (and their current woes):

It is an all-too-familiar political story.

First there was the electoral drubbing at the hands of a center-left juggernaut. Next came the recriminations, with party leaders taking nasty, public swipes at one another in dueling magazine articles, op-ed articles and talk show appearances. Then came the agonizing debate: should the party lurch rightward to consolidate its base, or rush toward the center to attract moderate voters? And finally, the purge: party members who do not make the ideological cut are cast out or pushed aside.

If the script sounds familiar to those who have followed American politics in the last year...

Just because they're both center-right? Naive. The state of the BJP in 2009 is in fact very much like that of the Democratic Party after the 2004 elections.

Take circumstance, for one.

Five years ago, the Democrats had failed to defeat the incumbent Republicans even after a four-year term without any stellar policy achievements and an unpopular presence in Iraq. Likewise, this year the UPA did better than the NDA even without any real gains from policy achievements. The challengers did worse than the incumbents did well; neither the BJP in 2009 nor the Democrats in 2004 provided a compelling enough alternative to the policies of the government, and the incumbents won. In contrast in USA 2008, the party in office lost.

More importantly, consider the politics of both nations.

The Republicans have always contested on the issues of liberty and freedom (which was what the war in Iraq was ostensibly about) and the upholding of moral values (which delivered the Mid-West to Bush in 2004). These are the very issues that the American nation was founded upon.

Likewise, the Congress Party proclaimed itself the guardian of the poor and dispossessed aam aadmi, the champion of threatened minorities, and envisioned a sarkar-directed set of programs for social upliftment - precisely the ideas the Indian nation was born of in 1947.

The idea of America is an economically capitalist, socially individualistic and (therefore) politically right-of-center nation.

The idea of India is an economically socialist, socially collectivist and (therefore) politically left-of-center nation.

No wonder, then, that the Grand Old Parties in America and India are the Republicans and the Congress Party. The Congress Party in India is the political equivalent of the Republican Party, and the BJP, of the Democratic Party.

No change, no gain, Nobel

2009-10-07T18:14:00.001+05:30

From @vinayakh, about this:

Indian moves abroad. Does seminal work. Wins Nobel Prize. India reclaims and celebrates it's (sic) prodigal son. Same old story. We never learn.

The fallacy of the supposedly underachieving IIT student community

2009-10-06T16:42:00.002+05:30

It's now fashionable, I suppose, to suggest that the IITian community has performed below its potential. Take this, for instance, from a IIT-KGP alum (Sandipan Deb, no less):

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of IITians do nothing of note in their lives.

I think you'll find that the ratio of students that achieve 'something of note' to the student community size doesn't differ appreciably across universities - IITs/IIMs or Harvard. It's rubbish to suggest there's a causal relationship between how stringent the selection process is and how 'well' the student community will do - which is, unfortunately, what most people assume. Or between JEE rank/CAT percentile and subsequent 'achievement' in life [1].

There is, though, I think, a causal relationship between the selection process and how well the best students in that community will do. The average IITian will do about as well in life as the average Mumbai University grad. But the best IITians will do, in my opinion, far better than the best Mumbai U grads.

Put another way, the infrastructure (faculty, labs, alumni, courses) at the IITs/IIMs serves as a force multiplier for only those who make active use of it - who are, from that point of view, the 'best' among the lot. The rest, though having cleared the JEE/CAT, enter an environment that they don't make enough use of to yield any benefits - and end up more or less the same as the non-IIT/IIM grads.

Which is why the achievements of the IITians - even as a community - are quite in line with their potential. To better this potential will probably require bettering the IITs themselves (equally, the IIMs).

Now I'm much less sure about this, but the life achievement distribution curve for the IIT/IIM community might probably be sharper at the left extreme as well, than that for, say, the Mumbai U community; the weakest (worst?) students at the IITs/IIMs just might do worse than the comparable non-IIT/IIM students, perhaps as a result of a combination of peer/family pressure, tougher exams, more fierce competition for placements (compared to non-IIT/IIM students) without the associated benefit of the corresponding infrastructure.

[1] We'll have to have a completely different argument, btw, if you define achievement as service to the country (as opposed to "cushy MNC jobs")

Recently Read - Maharashtra Elections 2009

2009-10-05T19:41:00.000+05:30

CNN-IBN commentary:

Rajdeep Sardesai on the probable hung assembly in the state

Suhas Palshikar from Pune University on the institutionalisation of dynastic politics across parties

Sudheendra Kulkarni on the mess that Maharashtra has become since the mid-1990s

How to build an article around a single sentence

2009-10-05T11:54:00.001+05:30

The BBC shows how. Not only is the title of the article, "Can India's economy overtake China?" misleading, because it implies that India's economy could become larger than China's, which isn't what it's actually saying, but the entire body of the piece seems to have been built around this one sentence, which itself isn't original reporting:

In late June, the World Bank in its Global Development Finance 2009 report projected that in 2010, the rate of growth of India's economy at 8% would be faster than that of China, expected to be 7.7%.

See for yourself.

Recently read

2009-10-04T19:15:00.001+05:30

One man's rumor is another man's reality (LA Times) - Dispelling conspiracy theories and untruths can be difficult when people only hear what they already believe.

Politics as religion in America (LA Times) - Right-wing fringe lunatics have become the new mainstream. "Compromise doesn't have a prayer."

Swiss Health Care Thrives Without Public Option (NYT) - How the Swiss healthcare system works and what compromises America might need to make to avoid the public option.

New Script for India on Climate Change (NYT) - India shifts to a more flexible position on climate change as it tries to distinguish itself from other developing nations which have much higher emissions.

From toxic waste to toxic assets, the same people always get dumped on (The Guardian) - The powers that protect those that dump toxic waste around the world

Celebrating a hybrid culture (The Hindu) - The rapid evolution of Doordarshan and private TV networks through the 80s and 90s.

What makes 'power' lists tick (The Hindu)

Silly spokespersons (Hindustan Times) - Karan Thapar asks what the Government is doing to make it safe for M F Husain to return to India

The Economist on William Safire

2009-10-04T17:16:00.001+05:30

The Economist has an aptly-crafted obituary for William Safire, lexicographer (and conservative NYT op-ed columnist and Nixon speech-writer).

Austere politician, austere professor (updated)

2009-10-04T16:50:00.004+05:30

Kapil Sibal says that IIT professor salaries can't be raised because the Government (himself included) has "taken austerity measures":

India, with a deficit of $84 billion -- or 6.8% of the gross domestic product -- can't afford to substantially raise the salaries of the thousands of professors in the nation's colleges, he said. The government has taken austerity measures, he noted, such as ministers like himself traveling coach on airplanes.

Annoyingly, the WSJ article states salaries in dollars throughout without comparing them to equivalent salaries in the private sector.

Starting professors earn salaries of $6,000 a year, rising to $15,000 for the most qualified, which is "not sufficient to attract high-quality, young faculty members," she said. The professors are demanding an increase in the minimum entry-level pay to about $9,000 annually...

The public sector - private sector disparity is appalling enough without the WSJ resorting to this to make salaries seem mind-bogglingly low to its non-Indian readers.

Update: Oh, Company Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid wove austerity into CEO compensation:

“I think when we are working on this (austerity), we can hardly say that we (will) shut our eyes on what salary the CEOs are going to take,”

Tolerance of Dissent

2008-11-11T10:02:00.002+05:30

From Rediff.com (and it's all over the national news today)

Margaret Alva has resigned as an All India Congress Committee general secretary. Alva resigned in the wake of her allegations over "sale" of party tickets in the Karnataka Assembly polls.

Rabid inter-party hostility has prevented meaningful policymaking for over a decade and a half, and increasingly, intolerance within is making a mockery of claims of intra-party democracy.

The US polity in the same 15 years has been accused of the same polarization and acrimony. But they've shown a level of tolerance for dissent that is unthinkable in India. Consider two examples:

Zell Miller, the former Democratic Governor of Georgia and former Senator, having delivered the keynote at the 1992 Democratic National Convention, also devliered the keynote at the 2004 Republican National Convention while still a Democratic Senator.

More recently, Joe Lieberman, Gore's nominee for VP in the 2000 campaign, spoke at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN, having endorsed George W Bush for reelection.

Last post

2008-01-18T11:04:00.000+05:30

This is my last post on this blog. All future posts will be at www.rahulgaitonde.org. I have also imported all posts on this blog (all 92 of them) into the other.

This blog was intended to chronicle my twenty months at IIM Kozhikode. While that hasn't really happened, my course will be done in just over a month's time, and this blog too, must come to an end.

See you at www.rahulgaitonde.org. To subscribe to the new blog thru RSS, here's the feed URL.

IIMK Live dot com

2007-10-22T12:56:00.000+05:30

Rarely have we undertaken so large a task, so bold an endeavor, and accomplished it with such aplomb. Today we unveil IIMKLive.com. Portal. Showcase. Blog. Photo Gallery. Email. Forum. Collaborative Calendar. Everything. Online. Accessible from all over, not just within the institute. We've come a long way in these last ten years, but very few things signify our drive to be the best there is, as clearly as this does.

IIM Kozhikode is a strange place. We're young, brimming with energy, yet unsure of who we are, what K is, how the world perceives us. We want to know what our identity is, yet script it at the same time.

There come moments, though, when one among us stands up, gives a damn about brand, perception, image and the like, and simply does what the institute needs, instead of what would be thought of as good. This is when something like IIMKLive.com is conceived and born.

Hobbled by an unmoving administration and bound by a demanding student life, the IIMKLive.com team has overcome indifference, doubt, even outright ridicule to create something we are all proud of.

Today, the team goes Live. K, you rock.

Tale from a Sunday morning

2007-10-21T12:23:00.000+05:30

For PGP09/10/11:

You can see the machine in the CC through a glass door. But you can't touch it. It's sadistically, tantalizingly out of reach. You look, pray, beseech it to restart, but it won't. It stares at you, dour, grim-faced, unmoved, unblinking. You wish hard, oh so hard, that you could press that little white button.

Despondent yet desperate, you pick up the phone and dial The Number. You know what's going to follow. After several rings, the same unpleasant sequence of events from the past repeats. The voice barks. You swallow hard, and explain the proxy is down. The voice grumbles. You beg. It refuses. You sacrifice every bit of your self esteem to get the voice to acquiesce.

Hours later, a car winds its way uphill. Slowly, leisurely, mocking you as you egg it on. The door opens. He steps out. Sizes you up and down, disgust writ large on his visage. He marches into the CC, you in tow. Reaches into his pocket. Fishes out the Key. It glimmers in the diffused glow of the CC lights. You lick your lips. If only, if only you could have the Key.

He slips the key into the lock on the glass door. Walks in. Stops at the rack. The machine and he regard each other for a moment. Each aware of its power over the other. And their collective power over you. His finger moves towards the white button. It pauses. He looks at you, with a hint of a smirk, knowing that he could simply walk away right then. Involuntarily, wordlessly, your face pleads. The look of disgust returns. The finger moves towards the white button. Closer. Closer. Closer. Finally, contact. The machine whooshes, squeals, then settles into a reassuring whirr. It is done.

You mop the sweat from your brow. He walks towards his car. Slips in without as much as glancing at you. The tinted windows roll up. You watch the car as it winds downhill, and finally disappears behind the thicket of palm trees. You sigh. You trudge back towards the CC, inside. And freeze. And slump.

It stares at you, dour, grim-faced, unmoved, unblinking.

All the Best

2007-10-10T10:42:00.000+05:30

Dear Menticles,

With the advent of Winter - mistier days and chillier nights - Kampus will begin preparing for Summers. Yes, as with so many things at K, this is completely counterintuitive. Several other paradoxes will make their presence felt too - a premier banking company will offer marketing roles, a marketing company will offer operations roles, a operations company will offer consulting roles, and a consulting company won't know what it wants to offer. Shortlists will rarely be short, and group discussions will little resemble either a group or a discussion.

Secrecy, mystery and intrigue will be rife. Placecom will convene meetings with news of "a major MNC consulting/IT/fin company That Cannot Be Named" (but which will leak out regardless). People will wonder whether a batchmate is tanking interviews because he/she has an offer, or whether he/she's just having a rough time. Junta will speculate whether the freebie at the end of a PPT will be a bag, notebook, burger or all three.

Placid personalities will turn brutal barbarians in GDs, the calm and confident into bungling buffoons (and vice versa, of course!) during interviews. Friendships will be forged in exhilaration and in adversity. It will be a new universe for a few days, completely unlike the life at K you have known until now.

But at the end, when the fur stops flying, the suits have been returned to their closets, shoes have been re-wrapped, CVs have been shredded, certificates have been filed, and all the tourist taxis have driven off into the sunset, Madhu will send another messed-up timetable, IP will resonate with curses again, classes will resume, and we will return to our lives - with one difference. A little bit, a tiny little piece - of the jigsaw puzzle of our careers - will have fallen into place.

Welcome to Summer Placements 2007.

All the very best.

Your Mentosauruses.

Taste of Heaven

2007-10-06T12:34:00.000+05:30

Taste of Heaven is a collection of essays and reviews about everything that makes K what it is, things that are uniquely K. In sum, they are what define us, set us apart and transcend years.

Visualize the collection as an album of experiences, as opposed to a moving filmstrip that chronicles events in their current context. As trophies on our collective mantelpiece rather than treasures we find rummaging through our jewel-case of memories.

The NC, the walking trails, morning vistas, IPculture, eating out, exploring Kerala, the annual Lakshadweep/Andaman trip, the early years at NIT Calicut, the IIMK-IIMB sports meet, Backwaters, the IIMK band, K-lingo, K-dio, the Outrageous Ad Corporation, Wormhole, and so many many more - these are what make us, connect all eleven batches to have known IIMK.

Lofty ambitions indeed; Kappa is aware of the limits of language, that capturing these in words is only as effective as capturing the warmth of a smile in an emoticon. But he also realizes that for those not as fortunate as us, these pages are possibly the only way to understand what makes K the enigmatic paradise it is, to sample a Taste of Heaven.

Visit Taste of Heaven at iimk.wordpress.com

Of banners, signs, guilt and trips down South

2007-10-04T18:36:00.000+05:30

From a one-day trip to Alleppey and a quick stopover at Cochin:

The locals have a surprisingly wide vocabulary, and do not hesitate to put it to good use whenever there's a chance:

At the same time, this travel agency in Cochin (close to Ernakulam North railway station) shocked, but did not impress:

Stuff yourself at the 2-storeyed Pizza Hut nearby, then walk right across the road to get rid of guilt:

Speaking of food, a restaurant at Ernakulam North station is very clear about who it wants in and who it doesn't:

Finally, the staff at Alleppey railway station were mostly clueless about train timings and platform numbers. Then we realized why:

Viva la Calicut!

2007-09-15T21:24:00.001+05:30

From a trip to Calicut city this week:

They taught everyone in the state to read and write, and forgot to teach them to spell. So the locals simply use English, well, phonetically. Like this (click on images for larger view):

Why do locals wear clothes with hideously loud, bright colors? Because they paint their houses that way too. Such as this marvel on SM Street:

Regardless, they all have global ambitions, and they proclaim them loud and clear:

Boney M Dresses :)

Undoubtedly the funniest exhibit at the Calicut City Planetarium and Science Center was this sculpture of an extremely curvaceous woman. The sign in the foreground reads "Please handle exhibits with love and care. They are for enjoyment, not for destruction." :)

The more things change...

2007-09-15T16:18:00.000+05:30

... the more they remain the same:

Tendulkar is the new Indian captain (10 Aug 1996)

Tendulkar offered Test, ODI captaincy (15 Sep 2007)

Rediff's list of 50 Most Influential Indian Americans

2007-09-11T15:08:00.000+05:30

Here: http://www.rediff.com/us/top50.html

Interesting profiles:

Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at NYU Stern
Bala Balachandran, Professor, Kellogg School of Management and Founder, Great Lakes Institute of Management
Sreenath Sreenivasan, Journalist and networker par excellence
Ram Shriram, Venture Capitalist and Google's first investor
V S Ramachandran, Neuroscientist
Vyomesh Joshi, Executive Vice President and CEO-in-waiting, HP (I'd predicted his elevation to CEO-in-waiting in my 2005 published article on HP.)
Atul Gawande, Surgeon and Author

The IIMK tug-of-war on Mint

2007-09-04T21:41:00.000+05:30

For those a little puzzled about where that last post came from, here's the background:

A few days ago, a gentleman wrote an article alleging that IIMK's performance over the last decade has been anything but satisfactory, cheifly because of its remote location.

After a volley of comments about how superficial this article had been, the same gentleman, determined to have the last word, published another piece, this time with facts and figures to back his claims.

The level of debate has been raised, though, by a rejoinder from Dr. Rameshan, Professor of Strategic Management here at K, whose article has brought a sense of impartiality and objectivity that's been lacking both in the original two Mint articles, and the comments that followed.

I'd like this debate to continue online - on Mint or on the blogosphere; there are several aspects to this that haven't been explored. Dr. Rameshan's set the bar, I hope the level of debate doesn't drop below it.

IIMs insist on locational disadvantage

2007-09-01T18:58:00.000+05:30

IIM Kozhikode given preferential treatment, allege other IIMs

Staff Reporter, September 1 2007

IIM Kozhikode and the in-progress IIM Shillong enjoy an unfair (dis)advantage, the other five IIMs have alleged, and have launched an intensive campaign for a similar locational disadvantage.

The issue seems to be that in spite of the perceived inaccessibility of IIMK, its placements match the rest of the IIMs in most verticals, in only ten years. Realization is sinking in among the others that the Government might have committed a huge blunder by locating them near "the industry".

An alumnus from IIMK explains the reasons for the institute's popularity: "MBA students want to have a good time, party, travel, socialize and take two years off before they give it all up with Corporate India for the rest of their lives. The prettier and more inaccessible the campus, the better." A member of IIMK's Media Cell adds, "As you can see, our campus is in Mint condition, very beautiful."

The other IIMs, though are getting rather hot under the collar. "Setting up IIM Kozhikode and now IIM Shillong in such inaccessible locations is a ploy by the authorities to destroy all that we (the older IIMs) have built over decades. This is timed to coincide with the appointment of new directors at IIMs A B and C, leaving our institutes running around like headless chicken. Oops." thundered a senior official at IIM Bangalore.

Not content with mere statements, students at IIM Calcutta have swung into action. They are now actively protesting the West Bengal government's industrialization policies. At an IIMC-organized protest at Singur (the site of the 1-lakh rupee Tata car project), Bibhutibhushan Das, a PGP student, stressed, "If industrialization succeeds, IIMC will no longer enjoy the value-added disadvantage of being near a moribund city. We will lose out to the lesser IIMs. We shall protest till the very end!"

At IIM Ahmedabad, though, location does not seem to be a serious issue. Pointing to the approach road to the insitute's main gate, which is cratered with horrendous potholes from this monsoon, an official requesting anonymity points out, "See that road? IIMA is still the toughest B-school to get into (except on foot)."

With the Prime Minister's intention to set up several new IIMs (supposedly in even more remote locations), the older IIMs are hardly likely to take things lying down. The next few weeks will see what course of action the Big Three take. The last shot in this duel hasn't been fired yet.

TIME makes Sonia PM

2007-08-05T22:32:00.000+05:30

In a photo-feature special on Turning Points in India's History, TIME talks about Indira Gandhi's assassination:

Indira Gandhi, returned to power in 1980, is killed by her own Sikh bodyguards, leading to anti-Sikh riots in Delhi where thousands die. She is cremated by her son Rajiv (second from left) and daughter-in-law Sonia (in sunglasses) — both future Prime Ministers

Well.

The eMEP 2006 Diaries

2007-08-04T15:51:00.000+05:30

Ashish Thakur dug up a collaborative blog by the participants for the eMEP (Executive Management Education Programme) 2006 program at IIM Kozhikode. Good stuff!

What B-schools don't seem to be teaching

2007-07-13T11:02:00.000+05:30

Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO of Rediff.com but more importantly for this post, the Chairman of IIM Calcutta's Board of Governors, tries to figure out what ails business schools of today:

(Quoting Jeffrey Pfeffer) ...much of what business schools teach—analytical tools like statistics and basic disciplines like economics and sociology—are readily learned and imitated by any intelligent person. On the other hand, things like communication ability, inter-personal skills, leadership and, most importantly, “wisdom”, the ability to weave together and make use of different kinds of knowledge, are less easily taught. Paradoxically, these are the very skills that lie at the heart of a leadership role in management.

(Quoting Warren Bennis and James O’Toole) ...business schools (are) attempting to adopt a “scientific model”. This model at attempts to treat management education as if it was something like physics or chemistry or biology whereas it is, in their view, more a “profession” like medicine or law. They see this distinction between an academic discipline and a profession as the central issue.

I've been thinking lately about why I seem to be dissatisfied with some excellent courses I've taken this term. They're (on the surface) well-designed courses, and are taught by very committed, talented faculty. This article's been more food for thought. Perhaps in the next couple of weeks I'll analyse why I feel this way.

More on branding - IIMC's first full-time foreign PGP student

2007-06-30T15:20:00.001+05:30

Perhaps this is an extension of my post yesterday. Today's Economic Times carries a piece on IIM Calcutta's first foreign PGP student. When Travis Donselman talks about his reason for choosing IIM Calcutta, he said

"I got some great feedback from Indian students as well as the faculty at the University of California. My research also left me very impressed by the curriculum and the calibre of IIM-C’s finance faculty. And the institute’s previous placement records were, in fact, the clincher."

"Very few universities are as strong as IIMC is in finance, barring a few like the University of Chicago, MIT, Wharton and Columbia."

That, dear reader, is the power of branding. Over the last several years, IIMC has consistently built up an image of being the best IIM to learn (and land the best jobs in) finance. And it's paying off now. Sample this article from last year's Times of India, about IIMC's summer placements:

"More than 40 IIM-C students will work on Wall Street and London, rubbing shoulders with graduates from Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg and other global B-schools next summer," said placement cell spokesperson Mihir Kulkarni. "

Do IIMA grads land Wall Street summers too? I'm sure they do. But Calcutta chose to put it this way. Pretty powerful message to a finance enthusiast with a call from multiple IIMs. Choosing Calcutta ought to be a no-brainer.

But to be able to brand an institute, the administration, alumni, student community need to identify what the institute is really good at. It needn't be the best, but certainly much better than average. Is that advantage sustainable? If it is, whom are you going to communicate this brand to? How are you going to communicate it? Through whom? How do you measure if it's working? Who's responsible?

Questions to ask when you're planning your PR strategy.

The Rankings Debate - What can K do?

2007-06-29T18:17:00.000+05:30

As I write this, there's a massive debate on the internal instant messenger about a 2005 Businessworld B-school ranking report that completely ignored IIM Kozhikode, Lucknow, Indore. The reactions from the junta have been forceful but rather knee-jerk.

Atrocious as these reports are (a certain Fore School of Management made it to the Top 10), they're widely read, and, unfortunately, do affect b-school decisions during admissions. IIM Kozhikode doesn't enjoy the brand image that A, B and C do. K competes with L, I, FMS, MDI and XLRI, and junta works hard (well, some of them do) in the Summer to convince prospective juniors with multiple calls to join K over the rest. It's disorganized, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Choosing between B and C is one thing; choosing between the second-rung crowd is when things get messy, when these results influence choices.

What can K do to counter reports like these? (Note that IIMK has historically refused to participate in surveys)

1.) Sue the magazine (a PR disaster)
2.) Participate in these surveys and hope for a good rank (hope?)
3.) Actively influence these results (could backfire)
4.) Publicly denounce the survey (large chance of another PR disaster)

So it isn't one of these. What then? There are no easy answers. It needs a well thought-out and sustained PR campaign, both online and offline. And yes - regardless of how change-resistant the institute's administration is, this can't be only a student-driven initiative. MDI was more or less irrelevant just a few years ago, until a proactive administration turned its image around and brought it (at least perception-wise) on par with L, I and K. IIM Indore's also running an impressive image-building campaign now.

So how can IIM Kozhikode, which has so much going for it, run a PR campaign? How much can the student community do on its own? Coming up in the next post. I'd love to hear from you, dear reader. Comment, or drop me an email at rahul |dot| gaitonde |at| gmail |dot| com.

Business lessons from a Harry Potter freak

2007-06-26T15:19:00.000+05:30

BusinessWeek profiles Emerson Spartz, a 20-year-old who makes a "six-figure income" annually by running the Harry Potter fan site mugglenet.com.

My biggest takeaway from the article was this:

"The site never would've taken off without the passion and knowledge that I have for the books," he says. "That comes before the business."

Something I've learnt over the past few months is to only attempt to get into business with something you've got a passion for, and a good deal of knowledge and credibility about. Sometimes you choose a business because you've got a hot idea, or it's a great sector to get into. Neither of these motivations are wrong at all, but often they aren't sufficient (or necessary).

Air travellers - thought you'd seen it all?

2007-06-23T21:13:00.001+05:30

Paul Kedrosky, a VC, has this funny incident to share:

Yesterday the space shuttle Atlantis crossed over San Diego on its way to landing at Edwards Air Force Base. I was on the ground in San Diego ready to board a plane to San Francisco, which was delayed. The reason? The space shuttle passing through our air space. I was, in other words, caught in space traffic.

:) Sign of things to come?

IIM Entrepreneurs - won't give up!

2007-06-23T16:24:00.000+05:30

The Economic Times reports that some ventures by IIM alumni haven't quite worked out. The reasons why they've failed are as diverse as the startups themselves.

What stands out? The fact that none of them is considering quitting - one team plans to re-launch their website, another plans to move from mobile gaming to food outlets, a third bunch of students is planning diversifying into related areas.

I'm glad the media does features like these - one, it's a welcome break from repetitive, unidimensional reports that portray the IIMs as little more than glorious job-shops, and two, that this media attention will both spur these guys on, and encourage the fence-sitters inside the IIMs to set up their own businesses. Here's to more entrepreneurs, and more quality, responsible reporting!

Financial valuation - the next generation

2007-06-21T13:11:00.001+05:30

Clayton Christensen (author of the legendary "The Innovator's Dilemma") on a method of financial projection he's associated with :

... discounted cash flow or net present value is the most commonly used method to determine what an innovation is worth today. But the mathematics have an implicit assumption within them that if we don't do this innovation, the way things are today will maintain themselves in the future. That's not true. The company's current financial condition will not persist. By comparing the innovation against the do-nothing scenario, you're biased.

... there's a method that's the brainchild of Rita McGrath at Columbia and Ian Macmillan at Wharton called "discovery-driven planning." It's a much better way to assess the value of projects. Most companies, when they look at the financial projections [of a potential innovation project], if they look good, they do it. If they don't, they don't.
But the desirability of attractive numbers has never been an issue. Why shine the spotlight on the numbers? Rather, a better way to do it is: We all know how good the numbers need to look for this to be attractive. But what assumptions have to prove true in order for those numbers to materialize out of this innovation? So you focus the spotlight on what assumptions have to prove true, and you launch a project to test those assumptions. It's a much better way.

VCs and their IIT/IIM predilection

2007-06-21T13:05:00.001+05:30

Ashish Gupta, Managing Director of Helion Venture partners, on the IIT/IIM bias in VCs' minds:

VCs in India have been, and continue to be, accused of a bias towards entrepreneurs with IIT/IIM tags. Gupta agreed, and offered his reasoning of the phenomenon.

"The bias is towards backing people who have some validation of success and relevant backgrounds. If the entrepreneurs are very early in their professional careers, then the IIT/IIM tags matter more because they are proxies for successful pasts."

Similarly, if the product is highly technical, then being from an IIT is helpful validation, he said.

However, he added that as VCs consider more senior people, these tags matter "very little, if at all. We must keep in mind that some people from IIT/IIM have a over-inflated view of themselves and are hard to work with - so these tags are not always good news."

The Dhandho framework

2007-06-18T12:21:00.001+05:30

BloggingStocks reviews the book by Mohnish Pabrai, of Pabrai Investment Funds.

The key concept to glean from this book is the difference between uncertainty and risk. According to Pabrai, most investors don't understand the difference. Risk means the chance of a loss of capital. Uncertainty is the range of different outcomes. So a stock may have high uncertainty but may not be risky, if no one knows what will happen but the worst case scenario would not results in a huge loss. According to Pabrai, these investments provide the greatest opportunities for investors.

[via Rajesh Jain]

Western aid bad for Africa?

2007-06-17T09:14:00.000+05:30

The legendary Marc Andreessen blogs about a Der Spiegel interview with Kenyan economist James Shikwati about how Western aid for Africa is actually destroying the continent. An excerpt:

Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.

Extremely interesting read.

The nonsensification of Indian news channels

2007-06-07T16:52:00.000+05:30

Gordon D'Souza echoes a growing frustration with the electronic news media in India:

The arrival of the private sector to broadcasting promised a lot but today I stay away from any Indian news channel. The reasons are pretty obvious. Practically everything is 'Breaking News'. I can barely see the broadcasts due to a stock market ticker, a weather ticker, the odd cricket score ticker, the ad marquee, the 'Breaking News' marquee, the logo, etc. As each and every news channel jostles for content it doesnt push up the standards but hits a new low every time. And every time they try to shock my sensibilities by broadcasting shocking content I am indifferent, because I have been repeatedly shocked and my brain has adjusted to the madness of some obscure madman.

It's a race for towards the bottom, and it's a race where everyone loses. The market is wide open for a sensible news channel that not only digs up issues that matter, but has the courage, character and perseverance to follow them relentlessly.

Nokia PC Suite and IVT Bluesoleil Bluetooth driver

2007-06-04T21:06:00.000+05:30

ActofGod has a great Howto on how to get your shiny new Nokia PC Suite working with the dificult-to-use IVT Bluesoleil driver. It works like a charm - got my N73 working with the PC Suite right away!

The only change from the instruction is to change this:

regsvr32 “C:\Program Files\Common Files\PCSuite\Transports\NclIVTBTMM.dll”

to regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\PC Connectivity Solution\Transports\NclIVTBTMM.dll" for Nokia PC Suite 6.83.

An ode to the Nokia N-Gage

2007-05-31T15:29:00.000+05:30

Prasad Shahane outlines the astounding number of uses he puts his Nokia N-Gage Classic to. My favorite is the MiniGPS App:

After my bus reaches the office premises, my mobile automatically switches to “Silent Mode” with my ‘MiniGPS App’. It is one of the most intelligent Apps on my cell that actually uses and remembers the cell ids of different cells as I move around them and does anything from “Reminding me about buying a magazine when I pass by my local Paperwallah or switch my cell off whenever I enter my office conference room. I immediately head towards the canteen when my ML calls up to know my whereabouts.

Good read, for sure! :)

Asif at Sangam 2007, Bombay.

2007-05-28T18:35:00.000+05:30

Asif has a mini-writeup on his experience at Sangam 2007 at Bombay. He had some err... rather boisterous fun :)

Sangam is IIMK's annual Alumni-Freshers meet. More about it on PagalGuy here!

"I tell you truth only"

2007-05-27T15:48:00.000+05:30

For those of you not in the know: Chate Coaching Classes is by far the largest and most popular coaching class for the Std. 10th State Board Exams (SSC) in Maharashtra. They perfected the "Latur Pattern", a methodology of extreme rote learning, which includes finishing off the class 10 syllabus in the 9th standard and practising paper-solving all vacation and then all year, until the Board exams.

This advertisement - which starts by declaring "this is not a advertisement"(sic) - doesn't inspire confidence.

Click on the image for a larger picture

Sangam 2007 - IIMK's Alumni-Fresher meet on the 26th!

2007-05-25T12:30:00.000+05:30

It's here, it's here! IIM Kozhikode's annual Alumni-Fresher meet, Sangam, is scheduled for Saturday, May the 26th, 2007, across six cities.

Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Madras and Hyderabad will play host to close to 500 alumni and soon-to-be IIMK PGP1s tomorrow. Judging from last year, this is going to be an incredibly fun evening! We had a ball at JOSS in 2006, and Alcom's taken the Bombay meet to a new orbit with Sun n Sand, Juhu!

Pics on Flickr soon enough!

Ah-ha! :)

2007-05-21T10:21:00.000+05:30

How to talk a lot without saying anything at all

2007-05-20T12:08:00.000+05:30

From an Economic Times report about IIM Ahmedabad revising its PGP:

Professor M M Monipally (who's heading this effort) told ET:

“We mainly intend to make amendments in the programme to take into account the changing market scenario. This will be done keeping in mind the long-term institutional goals and student requirements"

“We will also work on designing the curriculum in a way that helps students operate in more globalised world”

I don't know whom to take to task. Clearly, the professor's statements are empty words, commonly known in MBA-lingo as "gas" or "globe". Lots of speech and no content whatsoever. Is Dr. Monipally to blame for this near-meaningless collection of words, or the ET reporter who, knowing that the committee had only just been constituted and would take 6 months for its report, insisted on asking the professor who/how/what/when/why questions before the event (programme revision) had even begun. Probably the latter. Sigh. Another example of irresponsible, superficial reporting.

Quote of the day!

2007-05-19T13:18:00.001+05:30

"Getting into an IIM for the Placements is like entering a Miss India contest for getting into Bollywood" :)

When Telecom & IT babus just don't get the Market

2007-05-17T14:01:00.000+05:30

For all who go to town declaring that India has an entrepreneur-friendly, liberalized Telecom sector, here's a dampener. TRAI's recommendations on " Review of Internet Services", a report dated May 10th 2007, show just how much (or little) babus in the ministry understand the Internet. We're light-years away from a truly liberal Telecom policy, because the DoT hasn't even grasped the concept of creating a free, healthy market.

After having read through the report, I think I have a better understanding of what ails the DoT (and by extension, most ministries at the Center and the states). The Telecom ministry thinks it has to juggle different objectives which, in its view, are mutually incompatible. Therefore, to achieve all of these objectives, each stakeholder has to compromise to some degree. In reality, though, these objectives are _not_ incompatible, unnecessary compromised are made, and it results in a policy full of caveats, which ends up pleasing no one.

There are plenty of examples of these misplaced assumptions in the report. To demonstrate, here are a few sentences from the voluminous, bloated 126-page report, with my comments inline, in italics.

Under the "Scope of ISP license" section:

Web hosting by certain foreign companies within Indian domain who have significant market share in global market should form part of our developmental agenda and necessary policies to encourage such web hosting need to be evolved.

How in the world can "foreign companies" with "significant market share" hosting their data here going to help our "developmental agenda"?!

Strong views were expressed to permit IPTV under ambit of ISP license as it has potential to drive market, easy to provide using ISP backbone and can encourage Internet penetration .

So is this - "encouraging Internet penetration" - going to be the compass by which permission for other services will be granted in the future? What about TV on mobile phones? This is an extremely niche market, but does not in any way increase Internet penetration. Will this be allowed then?

Under the "Grey Market Operations" (?!) section:

Some entities located abroad are offering unauthorized Internet telephony services in our country for making calls to and from abroad on Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) ....The licensing, legal and technological issues arising from such services need to be urgently addressed by DoT.

Some companies are also providing Software through their websites that enables the user to have free chat with anyone using the similar software anywhere in the world while logged on to the server of such service providers. Software can be downloaded free of charge from their website.

The Internet telephony call through such unregistered entities using PCs/IP access devices in India to landline or mobile phones abroad and vice versa result in a revenue loss to the government . Such calls can escape the eyes of law enforcement agencies also.

Here is a classic case of the DoT's misplaced priorities. Is the objective of TRAI to "increase Internet penetration" and ensure that the Indian consumer gets the best and cheapest service, or is it to ensure that the Government - comprising the DoT, BSNL and MTNL - earn the maximum possible revenue? The DoT's most glaring - even criminal - policy failure is to disallow such an interconnect. If the DoT has to stifle innovation and consumer benefit in favor of PSU revenues, we must then question the very reason for the existence of these PSUs. Indeed, in an article I wrote back in December 2005,

If the state is not running telecom companies for "social service", or it put it more correctly, "social benefit", then what are they running it for? If profit is the only motive, then the company should be privatized, fully, and right away. Think about it: If there is no "larger good" for running BSNL and MTNL, their motives are just like any other private company. Why, then, should they be at such a huge advantage compared to a private player?

By escaping regulatory levies such unlicensed foreign entities are able to provide cheaper services to lure the subscribers. The Authority is aware that large number of Indians are availing such services. Stopping access to such services is technically difficult. There is serious revenue implication for the government. DoT may address this development on priority. One of the possible options could be to ask such companies to register in India, seek permission from DoT and host their website in India.

Again, the ridiculous premise that "hosting their website in India" is going to guarantee compliance! Besides, why should "cheap services" have such negative connotations as to invite use of the term "lure the subscribers"? And yes, the issue of "serious revenue implication for the Government" raises its ugly head again.

Under the "Revamping and Restructuring of Internet Services" section:

It is extremely important to regularly analyse the business data of the operational ISPs to ensure that the licensed ISPs are contributing to the growth of Internet and engage in legitimate business.

What is "legitimate" and "illegitimate" business? What "business data" will help identify such legitimacy? Should ISPs contribute to the "growth of Internet"? What if an ISP grows in an area only by managing to convert users of competing ISPs to its services? It has been a resounding success, but has not resulted in a single extra subscriber. Is that legal or illegal?

The Authority therefore favours a uniform FDI cap /equity of 74% across all telecom licenses. ISPs who have more than 74% FDI cap /equity at present shall be required to bring down their FDI cap/ equity to 74% within two years.

What is the magic number of 74% supposed to signify? Why not 65%? Why not 84%? As long as the foreign entity has a controlling stake in a firm, any additional restrictions on its holding are meaningless. If 50% FDI is allowed, why not 100%? In fact, what is any restriction at all on FDI going to achieve in a field like telecom?

Annexure II - Recommendations of "stakeholders":

Stakeholders also felt that the ISP licensing should only be linked with the vanilla bandwidth provisioning whereas all other services based on video & voice applications, www-hosted applications should be freed from licensing. It was also stressed upon that in a multi-tasking, multi-function, convergent nature of Internet; it would be illogical to consider regulating isolated applications.

Ah. Finally something which makes sense. But...

However, it does not appear possible to expand the scope of ISP license to cover all services as it will infringe on the rights granted to ILD/NLD/ Access Providers. Therefore, for the ISPs to move up the value chain, there is no option but to obtain one or more licenses as per the services planned to be offered by them.

There - senseless restrictions again. The same issues with interfacing with PSTN that we dealt with earlier.

Stakeholder commented that since Skype / Google type service providers are not licensed to provide such services in India without having facility for lawful interception, therefore, the vigilance and monitoring efforts are required to be beefed up, as these applications not only bypass the laws and regulations of the land, but also pose a threat to security. As such these services should be blocked.

I have nothing to comment on this, except that I would dearly like to know who this particular "stakeholder" is, and that I'd like to hear his views on how Google Talk poses a "threat to security".

Finally, the US has the most liberal laws I've seen:

In US, ISPs do not require license or authorization. Instead, e-mail, data and Internet services are treated as "information services," and ISPs are permitted to operate unfettered in a competitive and free market, subject only, with a few limited exceptions, to general business laws.

Ah, this is an entrepreneur-friendly policy. Here is a Government that believes in leaving anyone who wishes to offer services "operate unfettered", and step back from the scene, as opposed to one that gets involved in grand-scale centralized planning to the extent of mandating the "target for broadband users in India" in a particular year!

Of Ingratiation and Misplaced Loyalties - Dayanidhi Maran

2007-05-14T15:07:00.001+05:30

Dayanidhi Maran, in his zeal to prove his loyalty to his party, his grand-uncle and numerous other 'stakeholders' down South has resigned as India's Telecom Minister . In doing so, Mr. Maran has conveniently dumped his loyalty to what ought to be his most significant 'stakeholder' - the Indian public.

In a statement post-resignation, Mr. Maran said " I don't care about the ministerial berth. Ministry does not make any difference to me." How noble. How self-effacing. And how incredibly self-centered. When Maran agreed to become India's Telecom and IT Minister, he agreed to shoulder enormous responsibilities. But, like the rest of the polity, this doesn't even occur to him. Nor does the fact that as long as this post remains vacant, policymaking in the ministry will come to a standstill. Who but Maran should be held responsible for the price that India will have to pay for his Martyr act, for an issue that concerns no one in India but a small clique of people in the Karunanidhi-Maran family?

As Dayanidhi Maran, he is responsible to whoever he pleases - his grand-uncle and/or his party. But as Telecom Minister of India, he is responsible to every Indian Citizen. When these responsibilities eventually clashed, Maran has unequivocally demonstrated what his priorities were.

Update, 15th May 2007:

Chandan Mitra, Editor of the Pioneer (and a Rajya Sabha MP), on CNN-IBN (reacting to news that A Raja from the DMK would replace Maran as Telecom Minister):

Mitra then explained that the worrying part is that certain Cabinet portfolios get earmarked.

“A portfolio can never belong to a particular party. At least the PM should have the choice to appoint the best person for a particular portfolio,” Mitra said.

So, instead of ministers, it seems as if we now have warlords to run the country. The Union Cabinet of the UPA Government seems like a bunch of landlords who do their own thing and run their ministries as fiefdoms.

IIMK 2007-2008 Management Development Program (MDP) Calendar

2007-05-09T13:52:00.001+05:30

The MDP Center at IIM Kozhikode has announced its calendar for the coming next year. Get in touch with mdp [at] iimk [dot] ac [dot] in for registration details.

About the MDP:

IIM Kozhikode's Management Development Programs are a series of innovative high-impact training programs to meet emerging requirements of the industry. While emphasizing practical application, the programs also provide sound conceptual foundation in the areas concerned. Programs range from three to six days. IIMK also conducts custom-designed programs upon request from business, industry and other organizations/Government departments, to train officers and executives.

Followup: IIMA's delayed placement policy

2007-05-07T23:06:00.000+05:30

Heh! I was waiting for some IIM Ahmedabad graduate to take offence at my criticism of A's new placement policy for entrepreneurs, and hey presto! I am not to be disappointed! Talk about predictable behavior!

Not only am I not disappointed, I'm treated to a rather amusing post here that evinces more than its share of giggles! Mr. Falstaff, purportedly an IIMA grad, suffers a bout of acute indigestion when he reads my post criticising his WIMWI's policies. He decides to remedy his situation with a "fisk" :D OK, Mr. Falstaff (or is it his False Staff? But let us not hit below the belt! Ha, I love being punny!), let's fisk your 2087-word-long fisk. (My, that was some attack of indigestion you had!)

First, his obsession with market rates. Dear reader, Mr. Falstaff has assumed (very early) in his post that the IIMs should provide financing (or charge fees) "below the market rate". While I don't know where he gets that from, he then proceeds to support his arguments with this claim no less than Five times. Well. You could have cut down your rant in half by leaving out those arguments, Mr. Falstaff. But you were obviously furious, and decided to make up for quality of dialogue with quantity (hangover from your WIMWI days, I suppose?)

Then he talks about "core competency". About the primary purpose of the IIMs being "to provide quality business education, not to provide succour to wannabe start-ups". The IIMs are, at various times, placement agencies and consultants to the Government, apart from bring providers of education. Why in God's name should they not be angel investors? Especially if it brings in profits, and helps its student-entrepreneurs?

Next, Mr. Falstaff questions, "Do they (the IIMs) have even the basic ability to manage a debt portfolio or investments in new ventures, let alone a superior capability to do so?" Well, no, Mr. Falstaff, but their students, all of 22-23 years old when they pass out of WIMWI and hop into their new "fin" roles, suddenly do. Amazing.

From attempting to prove the incompetence of the IIMs at running such programs, he moves on to the issue of Venture Capitalists. Dear reader, please note that Mr. Falstaff has never launched his own venture, has never approached a VC, has quite obviously no idea of his chances of getting funded, but chooses nevertheless to pontificate on all matters VC. "There's a market for ideas out there. Venture capitalists, angel investors and incubators exist, and IIM graduates have, if anything, better access to them than anyone else." I repeat: "most mid-size funds examine about 500 firms a year and fund about 10". According to Falstaff's arguments, the other 490 are not worthy of any financing at all. Not by a venture capital firm, not by the IIMs, nobody.

Oh, and he ends the paragraph by saying much the same thing in a different way: "start-ups that can get backing from more specialised / expert sources will end up going elsewhere, leaving only the projects that can't get support from anyone else still knocking at the IIMs door." Same point, same rebuttal. No wasting time there.

Next. "So even if the IIMs do set up an incubator, it would make sense to delink it totally from the business school and invite ventures from a more general pool." Now I get the feeling this buffoon hasn't even read my post correctly. "IIM Bangalore has done splendidly on this front. It is the only IIM located in a city large enough to make an incubator worth its while" was what I
said. And it does not limit itself to IIMB grads.

As the post winds down, so does the logic of Falstaff's arguments. "Any half-way decent business plan will have short-term milestones, and ...provide at least a tentative sense for whether the project is likely to turn out to be viable... it may not be too early to see that it is definitely going to fail." I find that a fantastic statement from a character who admits that he chickened out of starting his own venture post-MBA. A year is usually too early to take a decision whether or not an idea is going to succeed or not. Don't give me your anecdotal evidence about "but my friends were able to tell".

And (yawn) finally, "even if the new policy isn't likely to be too useful, given the short-time horizon, how does it make things worse than they are?" Ugh. You make me repeat my post, laddie. Why don't you read before you rant? "If anything, this policy looks like it's going to hamper innovation - truly innovative propositions could be a year or two ahead of their time, and will take that long to show returns." was what I said. Does that really need more explaining? Even for you?

While I'm glad that there's debate on this policy (something which the mainstream media, in its continuing quest to dumb itself down, found itself incapable of doing), I find it disappointing that the only criticism has come from this character who, I must conclude, hasn't even read my post correctly and has failed to even grasp some arguments I made. I fervently hope Falstaff was the exception in his batch at "WIMWI".

IIM Ahmedabad encouraging entrepreneurs? Quite the opposite!

2007-05-06T12:43:00.000+05:30

IIM Ahmedabad announced a couple of months ago that graduates who opted out of A's final placements to start their own venture would be eligible for placements the following year, if their venture did not work out. IIM Indore has since copied this policy, Anu-Malik-style.

In the words of a final-year IIMA student, "The assurance of being able to participate in the final placement next year will give them a second chance if things don't go their way." No matter which way you look at it, the policy makes sound sense, right?

Wrong.

Academicians do not understand managers. Managers do not undertand entrepreneurs. Entepreneurs do not understand either ( and don't want to understand either, from what I've seen and experienced.) The media, for their part, are only too happy to appreciate anything the IIMs do, without deliberation or debate.

When does an entrepreneur take a call on whether or not his/her venture is working out? When it is profitable? Most ventures are not profitable even a year after being founded. As regards funding, a tiny fraction of firms receive any VC funding in any case (most mid-size funds examine about 500 firms a year and fund about 10). This policy will put tremendous pressure (self/peer/societal) on the entrepreneur to "take a call" on continuing or abandoning his/her venture in a year. If anything, this policy looks like it's going to hamper innovation - truly innovative propositions could be a year or two ahead of their time, and will take that long to show returns.

Let's say an entrepreneur does decide to appear for placements the year after he/she graduates. How does the institute plan to divide offers between current and past students? Let's say Yahoo! is on campus, and is looking to make 2 or 3 offers. For every past student selected among those 2 or 3, there is one current PGP student who loses out on that offer. How does Ahmedabad plan to tackle this? Quotas?!

In sum, IIMA has created a policy that appears to make it easy for the entrepreneur if his/her firm fails, instead of making it easier for his/her firm to succeed. It's a passive policy that hasn't required Ahmedabad (or copycat Indore) to lift a single finger other than to pass this diktat.

What could the other IIMs do to truly make a difference to entrepreneurs? Begin by asking them what they want. I'll tell you what I want from my institute.

I need money to set up my venture. Debt today is costly. I'm flying far below the radar to register on a VCs screen, so venture funding isn't on the cards just yet, and so equity's out of the question. Will my insti provide me cheap loans? Or take up a stake in my venture? It'd help if it did.

I need someone to take the regulatory headache out of setting up a company. It's outrageous how much an entrepreneur has to interact with the sarkaar to launch a firm. I'd like my insti to help me with paperwork, registration, taxation issues (later), and the like. For a fee. Help me get on with developing my idea. I'd also like my insti to provide some space to set up a temporary office, but in IIMK's case I'm not sure how many entrepreneurs want to set up their HQ in Calicut - yet. IIM Bangalore has done splendidly on this front. It is the only IIM located in a city large enough to make an incubator worth its while.

Finally, I have access to a lot of industry databases and reports as a student of the insti. I won't once I graduate. I'd like my insti to let me continue to use the online library for my firm. For a fee.

All of these three are hard for an institute to implement. It takes courage, vision, and a will to understand the entrepreneur. But these are precisely what an entrepreneur wants. As I said above, make it easier for me to succeed, not fail.

IIM Allahabad? Proof reading and quality of reportage hits new lows

2007-05-04T10:24:00.001+05:30

From Lucknow Newsline:

"The government's move on reservation is a vote bank politics. Just to swell its vote bank, the government has decided to play the reservation card,'' accused Subhashini Gupta, who has been selected in five of the IIMs— Allahabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.

Where, oh where, is quality proof reading, objective and meaningful reporting, and relentless follow-up? Exactly how does this report add any value to Lucknow Newsline? It carries nothing more than a quote each from two people who've received calls from the IIMs, stating their opposition to reservations. Are they in any way representative of the opinions of all of Lucknow's youth? If not, how could the piece carry a headline like "City future managers question quota in higher education"?

I am firmly in favor of an activist media with the objective of influencing policymaking (especially getting rid of the Quota scourge), but shoddy, meaningless reporting like this doesn't do the media any good at all.

When the boss blogs.. :)

2007-04-26T17:23:00.000+05:30

Inside the Internship - from the horse's mouth!

2007-04-19T15:04:00.000+05:30

Surya Saurabh from the 2007 batch of IIM Kozhikode does a marvellous job at jotting down his take on how to best approach a Summer internship.

Most of the 2008 batch across IIMs are about a fortnight into their internships, and have begun to form opinions about their guides, their project (or lack of it!), and their organization. No better time, then, to read this!

Kalam, not NRN?

2007-04-16T14:48:00.001+05:30

Sagarika Ghose, on her blog on CNN-IBN's website, makes a case against N R Narayana Murthy for President. While some of the arguments she makes are food for thought, here's where things break down:

To choose a figure who has no relationship with the big dilemmas of secularism, of social justice or of economic inclusion, for whom reservations is a complete no-no and for whom mass English language is the mantra for progress is understandable on the part of the middle class, but from the point of view of the tectonic pulls and pressures of Indian society at this time, such a president would be terribly artificial.

Well, Ms. Ghose, isn't this an equally accurate description of Dr. Kalam too?

Footnote: There are two flaws in Sagarika's argument: one, she underestimate just how large the middle class actually is - anecdotal evidence suggests it's about 350-400 million strong. Not insignificant at all. Two, a viewpoint worth considering is that a President, like many other symbols, is also a symbol of what peple would aspire to be as individuals; a role model. For all the accusations of disconnect, would a majority of India's non-middle-class not aspire to be like NRN?

Kahaanii IIM-IIM Kii

2007-04-13T12:18:00.000+05:30

A national media obsession is to dramatize every issue, fickle or serious, localized or national. Of course, the media only panders to the insatiable appetite of the Great Indian Viewer (or reader). So we've been treated to gory details of the Ganguly-Chappel spat, the Arun Nayyar-Papa Nayyar spat, the Aishwarya-Abhishek wedding, Hindu-Muslim love stories, and other incredible tales.

Today the Telegraph brought out what it makes out to be a sordid drama starring the directors of the six IIMs. Ambition, rage, jealousy, angst, competition, plots and sub-plots - it's all there!

Read for yourself. And hope that better sense prevails among all, and that we move on to more meaningful issues.

Lookin' for trends!

2007-04-11T21:21:00.000+05:30

One of the more interesting applications of Google Trends is to compare the search volumes of two or more search terms over the past several months (or years). So we were winding down work yesterday at Convonix, and fooling around with Google trends, when, on a whim, I compared "valentine" and "lingerie". And well - there is a correlation. See for yourself.

The illiberal liberal

2007-04-07T22:57:00.000+05:30

Siddharth Correa, a friend from my school days, theorized this evening (doesn't he always!) about how liberals oppose those who don't share their views on liberty - thus proving themselves illiberal! A liberal, then, by definition, is illiberal. (because you can't really taste any substantive liberty if you're OK with everyone around you being non-liberal).

That discussion, though, instantly reminded me of him.

Veg World's incredible menu!

2007-04-06T17:51:00.000+05:30

Veg World's the new restaurant on Pokharan Road #2, Thane - right beside Maria Plaza. Nice ambience, good service, good food. And an incredible menu! Here's how they pitch the restaurant to you, on the very first page!

Click for a larger image

Orkut gets diverse

2007-04-06T15:21:00.000+05:30

Anyone noticed the new, more diverse set of faces on the Orkut login page? Here's the new one (click for larger pic):

And here's the older one (also click for larger image):

Anyone noticed Marissa Mayer's pic at the top right? :)

Viva la America - Clear your debt :)

2007-04-06T14:55:00.000+05:30

Here’s a service I came across in the context of my Summers, Clear Your Debt - http://www.cydebt.com/

Here’s how they describe what they do:

“Times are difficult in the modern world and dealing with too much debt often adds to the pain and anxiety of our everyday lives. You really never thought that it would get to this point. You always thought that you could find a way on your own to make it work. The reality is that it isn’t working and it isn’t getting any better. There are a variety of reasons why individuals in this situation put off getting the help that they need. However, the important thing is that you are now making the right decision to take control of your life. In order to make the best of your situation it’s important that you find a company with the right people and experience to successfully represent you – people who understand the difficulties you’ve been facing. Clear Your Debt offers some of the most proficient approaches to successfully deal with both small and large amounts of unsecured debt. Our expertise is based on years of experience in the debt settlement industry and our unique debt reduction strategies have helped customers nationwide successfully get their finances back on track.”

Incredible, that country!

Quota Raj! Now in the USA!

2007-04-06T13:36:00.000+05:30

Rediff reports on the "quota" of 65000 H1-B visas to the United States from India.

Witnessing the US react in the exact same way to domestic pressures as the polity in India, and watching them play to the gallery in much the same way, is extremely amusing. Wonder how long it'll take for them to realize that they're exacerbating one issue by trying to find a Band-Aid solution to another.

I'm a big believer in the Symptom-Not-The-Problem syndrome (anyone who can find a more stylized, academic-sounding name for this?) Most policymakers in India suffer terminally from this. It compels the patient to apply ad-hoc solutions to symptoms of problems, rather than dig deeper, identify (or acknowledge) the problem and solve that instead. Of course, doing that is a lot harder, ruffles more feathers and hurts more vested interests.

But we digress. Where were we? Yes, one issue for the other. You see, while appeasing voters back home, and assuring them that All is Well, and that the American Way of Life shall continue into perpetuity, American policymakers ignore (or choose to ignore) the inevitable, and undoubtedly vicious rise in outsourcing by firms in the US. For these firms, the logic is simple. Can we get our work done here by Americans? No, there aren't as many as we'd like. Can we get Indians here then? Naah, there's a quota now. Well ok, we'll move more work to India. It's cheaper too.

Sounds ominous if you're the Average American, doesn't it. That's because policymakers ignore the problem that's been plaguing the country for so long - the fall in American competitiveness , with a simultaneous rise n competitiveness in other countries (primarily Asian, short summary here). This is a problem that manifests itself in two ways - an increase in outsourcing, and an increase in work-related migration to the US. Addressing one of these symptoms will only make the other worse, but the severity of the problem will be kept in check. If you clamp down on both these issue (visa quotas and anti-outsourcing legislation), the problem (American competitiveness in the global economy) will get very bad very quickly.

Indian policymakers would do well to note the parallels with Quota back home. The problem is the miserable, miserable state of basic education in India. Tackling both its manifestations - reservations as well as government stranglehold on education - simply makes the problem worse.

The St. Gallen Essay

2007-03-30T09:34:00.000+05:30

I sent in an essay for the St. Gallen "Wings of Excellence" Award (part of the annual St. Gallen Symposium.) Well, the essay didn't make it to the final 200 - so that leaves it open for me to publish it here!

The Fire Within

The Ecological Origins of Terrorism

Rahul Gaitonde
The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode
rahul.gaitonde@gmail.com

Abstract

Few contemporary issues are as high in the public consciousness as, to borrow George Bush's coinage, the War on Terror. Across the globe, nations are engaged in fighting terrorism politically, socially, economically. Yet, six years into the War, we do not have any compelling evidence to suggest we are winning it, or are even close. Have we truly struck at the roots of Terror? More fundamentally, have we even fully understood Terror? Indeed, today's multi-fronted battles merely address the symptom, not the cause. The cause, more often than not, is ecological.

"Rogue" states, ruled by despots or wracked by conflict today have some of the richest concentrations of natural resources; but deadly concoctions of poor, often unsustainable policy decisions, autocratic control, unequal distribution of existing resources, eventually spill into social and political unrest. Is it any surprise, that terrorists the world over see themselves as victims of terror?

This essay delves into the minds of three characters at the center of three dramatically different manifestations of ecological terror. As we live their cause, their motivations, their compulsions, we begin to realize the sheer scale of what we are up against.

[Begins]

In the pitch darkness, the only sound was the constant trill of the crickets in the thick brush. In the stillness, Ganesh Uieke (1) turned and shone his tiny torch on his “troops” – eight hundred Naxals, armed to the teeth. Satisfied, he turned again, and glanced at his watch. In fifteen minutes he’d quietly signal the start of what would be a deadly twin attack on the Government-run Errabore relief camp, thought to be harboring anti-Naxal elements, and a paramilitary camp some distance away, deep in the Bastar forests in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

Uieke had done this before – he’d stopped keeping count a dozen years ago. Having left spent the last three decades of his life in Bastar, he’d seen the Naxal movement evolve from a seven-year-old tribal uprising with origins in neighboring West Bengal, to a 55000-strong army that controlled massive tracts of land across a wide swathe of Indian territory, with the ultimate ambition of establishing a Maoist Indian state.

Now he allowed himself a moment of reminiscence. The Naxal struggle had been born in the tiny West Bengal village of Naxalbari in 1967; scores of landless laborers had risen as one against the tyranny of local landlords, who for centuries controlled the most important natural resource the region had – agricultural land. The uprising inspired similar movements across central and eastern India. It captured the imagination of a generation of middle-class intellectuals and students like him– easy in those tempestuous, turbulent years in young India’s history. People took to arms to stake their claim to their land, their rivers, their forests, their grasslands, their wildlife, the Maoist Naxal philosophy an attractive dream. Uieke remembered, although vaguely, when the Government had established massive mines to extract iron ore from his region’s mineral-rich countryside. He recalled having to move home to a far smaller one; his father – once a trader of the local tendu patta (leaves used to wrap bidi cigarettes) – being employed by the mines, working longer hours, and yet poorer than he was before the mines were set up. As a student in college, he learnt how the Government earned tens of millions of rupees from the ore in the mines, and seethed at how little his people got out of it. It was, after all, their land. The mines had reduced them to refugees in their own land, and given them nothing at all in return. A chance encounter with a local Naxal gathering saw him plunge headlong into the movement, fighting for their rights, their land.

Uieke smiled proudly at the memories of his days as a firebrand local Naxal commander. But then he frowned, suddenly aware that the Naxal movement of today was nothing like its origins. He was in a position of immense power today, his men and women were well armed, his operations well funded, but he couldn’t deny that there was no Cause left anymore. Why did the mainstream media keep referring to them as “terrorists”? Didn’t they understand why they’d taken up arms against the state? But then didn’t the Naxals frequently recruit local bandits for their bombing and looting operations? Their battles with Selwa Judum, the Government-sponsored anti-Naxal villagers’ movement, had spiraled into an all-out gang war. Did it have anything to do with the people anymore? Was it true – had what started at a struggle for rights to the wealth of their native lands degenerated into a senseless terrorist movement?

He glanced at his watch again. It was time. For another glorious attack on a symbol of the Indian State’s tyranny? Or just another senseless act of destruction? Never had such thoughts bothered Uieke before; now his mind was a jumble of conflicting thoughts – pride and guilt, courage and shame, rage and confusion. But the attack had to go through. He pulled out his automatic pistol, and fired a shot in the air. As one, the eight hundred terrorists, screaming, descended on the relief camp a few hundred meters ahead. Carnage was imminent.

25 killed in Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh (2)
July 17, 2006 11:45 IST
At least 25 people were killed and 80 injured, about 32 of them seriously, while 250 people were missing following an attack by some 800 armed Naxalites in Dantewada district on Monday, police said.
The Maoists brutally killed the villagers, and 20 of them were hacked to death with sharp weapons, while three were charred to death and two were shot dead by the Naxalites at Errabore relief camp, 550 km from the state capital, police and official sources told PTI over phone from Konta.

(1) Ganesh Uieke is secretary of the West Bastar Divisional Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). He was interviewed by The Economist for its August 17th 2006 print edition. While the incident is true, the narrative is fictional.

(2) Report from Rediff.com, 17th July 2006, http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/17naxal.htm.

****

Rukminibai’s eyes widened in horror as the full import of the slumlord’s words hit her. “What do you mean it’s sold to someone else?! It’s my land! I bought it from you!”

The slumlord simply smiled. His gold canine made the smile look extremely menacing, and an involuntary shudder went through Rukminibai’s frail frame. Her hut, along with hundreds others in the Mumbai slum of Ambujwadi had been demolished by the Bombay Municipal Corporation in a recent demolition drive, until a leading national politician had vetoed the drive. As Rukminibai had reached the site of what had once been her “home”, she had found someone else re-building a hut there, and local strongmen had chased her away. In sheer distress, she’d rushed to Kirti’s – the all-powerful local slumlord’s place, where she was told the land had been sold.

Kirti – or Dada, elder brother, as he was known in the slum - looked at the woman with a mixture of pity and disgust. He’d spent decades dealing with cases like these. Every slum demotion brought dozens, often hundreds of Rukminibais to his door. That was the way the parallel rule in the slum worked. An unholy nexus of slumlord, mafia, politician and builder had been spawned because of the total mismanagement of the most important natural resource in Bombay – land. The Urban Land Rent (Ceiling) Act, an archaic post-World War II law to prevent landlords from fleecing returning war veterans was still in force today – the only major city in the world to have not repealed it. The law created an all-powerful tenants lobby, which paid abysmally low rents for apartments in some of Bombay’s most valuable areas, and were almost impossible for the landlord to evict, generation after generation. This act, coupled with a severely limited Floor Space Index – which prescribed the quantum of living space a builder could construct per area of land – ensured an artificial scarcity of land on the island metropolis. At the same time, acres upon acres of Government land were poorly protected, and easy to encroach on. It was as easy as it could get – goons simply moved in, as Kirti had done in the early 1980s, claimed the land as theirs, paid off the local police for looking the other way, and auctioned plots measuring few square meters to migrants. Demand was tremendous – India’s stagnant village economy forced thousands of young men from around the country to migrate to Bombay in search of a job, and money to remit home. Indeed, in India’s hinterland, legends were built around Bombay, the Mayanagari – the City of Dreams.

Kirti had been quick to spot an opportunity in this deadly ecosystem. He’d been slumlord for close to two decades now, and wielded incredible power. There were others like Kirti all over Bombay, ecological terrorists plundering every spare, precious acre of land. Sustaining this ecosystem were archaic legislation, a conniving, spineless political class, a rapacious clan of builders, and a poorly paid police force, eager to make a buck wherever possible. This nexus was how slum demolitions actually helped the slumlord. He knew that there was no real political will to do away with slums – the slum-dwellers’ votes were simply too important. So a demolition drive would be announced with great fanfare, and sure enough, news-starved television crews would assemble in the blink of an eye to report the Municipal Corporation’s bulldozers raze part of the shanties. For Kirti, the 2004 demolitions (3) had been an opportunity for free publicity. These demolitions had also brought social activists out in droves, all indignant, all of a sudden concerned about the plight of those displaced – “Where will they go” being their perennial refrain. The next act in this oft-played out drama was the same politician who announced the drive retracting it, promising to make arrangements for rehabilitation before resuming the drive. “They will be driven out of this fair city!” the politician had thundered, thus cementing his popularity with the middle and upper class too. After the bulldozers had been removed, television crews driven away, Kirti’s men had gone about their business quietly, efficiently. Auctions had been organized again, this time commanding a higher price than before.

The cold-blooded Kirti smiled, again. “Your land? That’s a joke! Lady, that land doesn’t even belong to me! You aren’t even in the picture! There’s no deed, no title, no ownership. You only live there as long as you can pay what Kirti demands. And someone is willing to pay more for ‘your’ land. They don’t call it life on the Razor’s Edge for nothing!” He paused, turned and gestured “Take her away. Waste of time!”

(3) Ambujwadi, on Bombay’s (Mumbai’s) coast, spans 23 acres of land belonging to the district Collector (a high-ranking bureaucrat). The land lies in the sensitive Coastal Regulatory Zone, which are ecologically vulnerable areas.

****

“Two trillion dollars!” the President (4) looked up from the sheaf of papers in his hand, across the table at the Oval Office. “That’s the cost of Big Oil, eh?”

The Vice President fidgeted in his chair, aware that the President had become increasingly jittery about the cost of the Iraq war. A December 2006 paper by Joseph Stiglitz had pegged the eventual cost of the war at this astronomical figure. The 2001 Nobel laureate could influence public opinion like few others could – which meant the report could do some serious damage to the Administration’s already shaky reputation, and had wider implications for the campaign leading up to the next Presidential elections. But this was now a personal war for the Vice President. Having egged the President to commit fantastic sums of money and hundreds of thousands of troops to Iraq, this was a war he dearly wanted to win. It would be his legacy. He’d be known as the man whose drive led America to establish its hegemony in West Asia. Far more importantly, it would give America’s oil giants – corporations in which he held significant stakes - direct access to virtually infinite petroleum reserves in the country. It was a compelling, almost intoxicating vision - which meant he simply could not afford to have the President vacillate on this matter. Black gold, the ancients called it – possibly the most valuable natural resource on the planet.

“Mr. President, we’ve been over this before,” he cleared his throat and began, “Iraq, as of 2007, has a hundred and twelve billion barrels of proven oil reserves – and who knows how much more there is lying beneath the desert. The US Department of Energy has estimated that Iraqi reserves could possibly total over 400 billion barrels. Even at conservative estimates of fifty five dollars a barrel, the proven reserves are worth well over six trillion dollars. I’d like to see another investment that’ll produce guaranteed three hundred percent returns!”

“I’m not so sure now about a bunch of other things,” the President replied, “our depleted uranium waste from the war – that’s still lying all over the place. Sure, those cluster bombs helped, but what about this mess?” The man was not done yet. “And what’s this report about Iraqis and our men suffering from what looks suspiciously like the Gulf War Syndrome? Look.” and he passed a sheet to the Vice President.

“…headache and listlessness, cough and asthma, loss of weight due to diarrhea.” the Vice President read. It didn’t make for very good reading, that was true. And he didn’t have much to refute that. He’d have to try a different track.

“Mr. President, we’re paying money today to the Saudis – huge amounts – for oil. And the Lord knows how much is siphoned off to the other side in our War on Terror. Once we’re through with this war, we’ll have cut off that channel completely. Besides,” he let his voice drop, “I’ve… we’ve already made deals with our corporations. The auctions have begun. The campaign money’s already started flowing. There’s no looking back now!”

The President narrowed his eyes. He knew the Vice President was gunning for the war because his investments on “our corporations” were on the line. At the same time, what he’d said was true. Then again, he still wasn’t convinced. “Who’s going to pay for their national healthcare? And what about those marshlands?” The latter were marshlands along the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, home to the Marsh Arabs, which dried up when Saddam Hussein constructed dams to divert water away – ostensibly to punish the locals for attempting rebellion. These marshlands now needed massive funding to be rebuilt and reverse the ecological disaster.

The Vice President tried a final salvo. “Mr. President, oil stocks shot through the roof when we merely announced the invasion four years ago. Profits soared by 50% back then, and they haven’t looked back. Our contracts are going to be worth tens of billions of dollars. We call this off and we’re looking at a crash.” He swallowed, and then continued “A lot of money’s tied up there, Mr. President. You and I aren’t coming back to the White House next time, you know”.

The President sighed. The ecology of a distant country against the economy of his own. Lifting a million unknowns out of poverty against a few raking in billions. Was he the terrorist, or was he fighting them? So many unanswered questions one way, so many arguments the other way. But it would have to be done.

“We’re sending in those additional troops (5), Mr. Vice President. I don’t like it one bit, but it’s got to be done.

(4) The narrative is fictional, although it refers to the US-led invasion and subsequent conflict in Iraq.

(5) On January 11, the US Department of Defense announced which brigades will comprise the 21,500 additional troops that President George W. Bush plans to send to Iraq. The 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, NC, will move into Iraq and assume a security mission there.

****

References

Paul Shrivastava and Ian I. Mitroff, The Ecological Roots of Terrorism, Bucknell University. Retr. January 29 2007. http://www.bucknell.edu/x4734.xml

Status Report on the Naxal Problem, South Asia Terrorism Portal, 2001. Retr, January 29 2007. http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/document/papers/06mar13_naxal%20problem%20.htm

Ramesh, Randeep, Inside India’s Hidden War, The Guardian: May 9 2006. Retr. January 29 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1770612,00.html

A spectre haunting India, The Economist: August 17 2006. Retr. January 29 2007. http://economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7799247

Greg Palast, Secret US plans for Iraq's oil, BBC News, March 17 2005. Retr. January 30 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4354269.stm

Steve Kretzmann and Jim Vallette, Plugging Iraq into Globalization, July 22 2003. Retr. January 30 2007. http://www.counterpunch.org/kretzmann07222003.html

Water returns to Iraqi marshlands, BBC News, August 24 2005. Retr. January 30 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4177852.stm

Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, Iraq War Will Cost More-than-$2-Trillion, Milken Institute Review, December 2006. Retr. January 30 2007. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15499.htm

Laura Heaton, Analysis: What new US troops will do in Iraq, Middle East Times, January 31 2007. Retr. January 31 2007. http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070131-052041-2134r

Ravi Tiwari, Mumbai slums in the grip of land mafia, NDTV News, March 29 2006. Retr. January 31 2007. http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Mumbai%20slums%20in%20the%20grip%20of%20land%20mafia&id=86305&category=National#

Suketu Mehta, Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Penguin India (2004)

[Ends]

Quota: debating a non-issue?

2007-03-29T20:15:00.000+05:30

They say the Communists have the best brains in Parliament. Well, Prakash Karat made a very valid point today when he opposed the Supreme Court's judgment staying the 27% reservation in institutes of higher education.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist also had strong words on the judgment with party general secretary Prakash Karat calling it 'unfortunate and uncalled for.'
He said that already several states had implemented reservation on the basis of OBC lists even in Central services and wondered what the problem in extending it to educational institutions was.

Karat's right. If the SC's objection is that the census data on which the percentage of OBCs in the population is based on is outdated, then the OBC quota in Government jobs in the 1990s in the wake of the Mandal report also ought to have been quashed with the same argument. Karat is right because the SC's stay is over an non-issue. By questioning merely the veracity of the data, rather than the basis for reservation itself, the SC has implicitly acquiesced to the Centre's twisted logic for the implementation of quotas.

There's a strange incongruity in the rationale for celebrations in the anti-quota camp today and the SC judgment. Somehow people don't seem to get it. I've heard "anti-quota spokesmen" (where did that epithet come from?) from across the social spectrum laud the SC for recognizing that "caste-based reservations only serve to divide the country". The SC has done nothing of the sort. How long will it take for a Government hell-bent on the idea of Quota to come up with more accurate figures?

The debate ought to be on the very raison d'être of reservations, not mere technicalities like this one.

Air India + Indian = Air Indian?

2007-03-29T09:56:00.000+05:30

That looks to be the precise logic the boards of the two state-run airlines used when deciding on the new brand for the merged entity. A sterling example of how politics of accommodation and a "please-all" strategy more often than not leads to horrendous results. Both Indian Airlines and Air India were fine names for an airline. But Air Indian?!

From the report: "An Air-India functionary told Business Standard, "It makes sense and is practical to retain the names of both the airlines."" I wish he'd gone on to explain just how.

Bushisms - the best of 2006!

2007-03-28T23:06:00.000+05:30

From my favorite American Superhero:

I'm the Decider." "I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense." (April 18. Some six months later, Rumsfeld was cited as one of the major reasons for the Republicans’ defeat in the US mid-term elections.)
“I use the Google,” in reference to the Internet search engine. (October 24. Interview with Maria Bartiromo of CNBC.)
“It was not always certain that the US and America would have a close relationship.” (June 29).
“I’ve got an ek-a-lec-tic reading list.” (August 29. Interview with Brian Williams.)
“The only way we can win is to leave before the job is done.” (November 24. Greely, Colorado)
“Stay the course.” (On numerous occasions.)
“When the final history is written on Iraq, it will look just like a comma.” (September 24. Interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN.)
“The Congress was right to renew the Terrorist Act.” (September 7. In reference to the Patriot Act. Washington, DC)
“I want to be a war president; no president wants to be a war president.” (October 26)
“The fiscal year that ended on February the 30th.” (The US government’s fiscal year ends on September 30).

The rot is elsewhere

2007-03-28T18:51:00.000+05:30

Shashank Manohar of the BCCI today said that players' salaries would now be tied to their "competence" - I'm assuming that means "pay for performance". Dad chuckled, and immediately compared this to doctors being paid only for successful operations or lawyers only for favorable verdicts. I think that's a fair comparison. However, there is a case for a larger variable component in players' salaries.

This apart, what about "pay for competence" for BCCI officials? Why should the BCCI president's salary not be tied to the team's fortunes? Or Mr. Manohar's salary? Ought they not be dropped if the team performs poorly too? I'm sure you could extend the argument to the selection committee too (especially in the light of Greg Chappel's statement about Suresh Raina being "needed but not wanted".) "Pay for performance" for the BCCI would make politicos and business tycoons think twice before trying to muscle themselves and their men into the world's richest cricketing body for a slice of the pie.

This is where the rot lies. Jagmohan Dalmia's greatest contribution to cricket was his ability to leverage the volume of viewership in the subcontinent to get Big Bucks into the game during the 1996 World Cup. World cricket has never been the same again, for better or worse. Indeed, ten years later, this has made the Indian cricket team the most valuable, regardless of how well they play (or don't). The Board charges outrageous sums of money from broadcasters, driving the latter to fleece advertisers, who in turn reduce the game into nothing more than a series of gimmicks (Extraaa Innings?! Mandira Bedi?! Kris Shrikkanth?!), to earn every last cent of revenue from the gullible Indian viewer. Advertisers also need bankable stars, so in come the multi-million dollar endorsements. Given the volume of money that an advertiser invests in a cricketer, the pressure to extract meaningful returns on this investment is huge; consequently the control the company exercises on the player is intense. That's why Sachin Tendulkar, otherwise reserved and careful with his words, is made to take part in the ridiculous "Har Ghar Mein Sachin" campaign, or Sehwag in the equally infamous "Sehwag Ki Maa" ad for Reliance India Mobile several years ago.

The BCCI is now the world's richest cricketing body (by far, I'm sure). The richer it gets, the more zealously it guards its autonomy and privacy. The largest stakeholders in Indian Cricket, the Indian public, have no say whatsoever in any aspect of the administration of the game - from the election of the BCCI panel, to its investment in domestic cricket, to selection, to measures of performance. Perhaps if the BCCI were a publicly held company, the public would get a chance to have a say in matters. The public does not know how much the BCCI earns, where it invests its money, how much is paid out in salaries, how its administrators are (s)elected, how its team is chosen, how performance is measured. It's time the Board of Control for Cricket in India gave up this very Control from the hands of a few Chosen Ones to the people to whom cricket really matters.

Because the rot is not in the Indian cricket team. The rot is in the BCCI.

Bombay's old taxis never die, they just keep plying...

2007-03-28T12:21:00.000+05:30

Basab Pradhan (a rare CEO blogger) reasons why Bombay's old Premier Padmini taxis will never retire even after their legislated life of ten years is up:

The cabbies... tell the RTO that they have unpaid loans on their 10 year old cabs and that if the RTO pulls their cab off the streets, they will not only be unable to feed their families, they will default on their loans. The administration for reasons unknown, cannot allow cabbies to default on their loans. Perhaps they think it will affect the Mumbai economy the way sub-prime loan defaults in the housing market are affecting the US markets. Or perhaps they worry about the credit scores of their taxi-owner friends. One doesn’t know.
The administration’s largesse is having unintended consequences. The cabbies are now refusing to pay back the loans altogether. They say that they will keep paying the interest, but remaining indebted was essential. Without that, their ancient relics would go off the roads. The lenders seem to be acquiescing.

Pradhan ends with a fine analogy:

Nice scheme. If you replace cabbies with labour reunions (sic), cabs with sick companies and lenders with public sector banks, you get another problem that has plagued us for years – an exit policy for sick industries. Both situations are typical of the Indian democracy – vocal minority (cabbies) screwing the happiness of an uncaring tax-payer.

BusinessWeek on "The Trouble With India"

2007-03-14T20:30:00.000+05:30

BusinessWeek's latest issue tries to comprehend the conundrum that India is.

In a series of articles in addition to the main one "The Trouble With India", BW's reporters conclude what we already know - the country needs investment: in infrastructure and education (see the "Related Articles" box on the main article page). More than that, the common refrain through every article is that though the symptoms may be economic, the problem is political. The abysmal quality of Governance in the country could snatch the opportunity of meaningful progress that is tantalizingly within reach, for the first time in living memory.

The confused hypocrisy of the HRD Ministry

2007-03-05T23:49:00.000+05:30

1.) From the Hindustan Times: "IITs plan for expansion scrapped"

The HRD ministry has snowballed the plan of IITs to open new campuses. The first to be hit are the top three IITs of the country at - Delhi, Mumbai and Kharagpur... While IIT Delhi was formulating a plan for Gurgaon, the proposal of IIT Mumbai for Gujarat and IIT Kharagpur for Bhubaneswar have already been rejected by the HRD ministry. "We are against the concept of opening satellite campuses as it may dilute the standard of education in premier institutes like IITs," a senior ministry official told HT.

2.) From the Economic Times: "How about one IIM in each state?"

A parliamentary committee has recommended setting up of at least one Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) in each state and also increase the number of seats in the existing IIMs. Government should create more opportunities for students in the country by opening at least one IIM in each state, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD said in its report.

It's a classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, and vice versa. It's clear now that policy formulation inside the HRD ministry is ad-hoc, and that the ministry has very little idea of how to reconcile the global success of its IITs and IIMs with its larger "social obligations". One half of the dysfunctional brain that is the HRD ministry realises that there are too few seats for too many bright applicants in our best institutes. The other half is aware of the falling standards of higher education in India and wants to preserve the elitist nature of these very institutes. Therefore, the IITs are not allowed to open satellite campuses, but IIM Lucknow is allowed to operate its satellite campus in Noida, and that it's quite all right to run some 28 IIMs in parallel.

The problem's been obvious for a long time now - sever supply-side constraints on professional education is every field: engineering, medicine and management. It's the same with research, both pure and applied. How do you tackle an acute shortage of supply? Well, you need money - which the HRD ministry doesn't have, and an effective market - which the HRD ministry's control freaks won't allow.

Money and Market
Opening up the education sector to private investment would change the face of higher education in India - for the better. Even in a severly Government-controlled regime, the Indian School of Business, MDI Gurgaon and Manipal Education have done rather well for themselves, and are testimony to the quality and affordability of education that private institutions can provide. The proposed Vedanta University should put an end to any doubts about either the will or the scale of private investment in education. The United States has unquestionably the best system of higher education in the world. All of its best Universities are privately owned and operated. For instance, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northeastern's Kellogg School of Management and Stanford Graduate School of Business are the top four B-schools in the world (by most estimates). All are privately owned, and are highly competitive.

Getting your own act right
Even if the HRD Ministry were to spring-clean its own house, it'd do a far better job of operating its institutes. But even that involves granting autonomy - something which the ministry professes but does not practice. The appointments of the Directors of the IIMs, the setting of salaries for every single employee of an IIM, granting or denying permission for expanding/diversifying, are all actions which require the approval of bureaucrats inside the ministry. In other words, high-level management of the HRD's own management institutes cannot be left to those very institutes!

That still leaves one question unanswered: how is the HRD ministry supposed to ensure that the IIMs and the IITs contribute to the development of Indian society? The answer to that question, surprisingly, lies on a rather different trajectory, and will have to be dealt with in a separate post. But without attempting to provide an answer, consider this: if the Government of India is offering a candidate an (albeit subsidized) no-strings-attached education, then the career the candidate eventually chooses also must be no-strings-attached. Therefore, the IIM and IIT system is a fundamentally wrong one if the objective is to develop individuals who are expected to directly contribute to Indian society. More on this in a dedicated post later.

Fabulous Placements at K - and lead story on CNN-IBN!

2007-03-05T21:32:00.000+05:30

Well, CNN-IBN has a feature on IIM Kozhikode's placements - and it was the lead story for much of the evening! Here's a screenshot:

Finally, here's a link to the story that CNN-IBN's running on IIM Kozhikode's Placements 2007. We've really had a great season this year. I'm glad the PGP09 guys got want they deserve - they're a fine bunch of professionals and we've been thoroughly proud to have them as seniors.

Once again, those with IIM Kozhikode GD/PI calls, register and ask away at mentor.iimk.ac.in.

Indian Express' Idea Exchange

2007-02-19T09:48:00.000+05:30

Since July last year, the Indian Express has been running a feature they term "The Idea Exchange". According to the website, it "is a forum where a team of senior editors puts across questions of national interest and seek answers from quests who make and shape policies and influence events". Importantly, the idea is to "evoke responses... that are not conventional and convenient, and where the guest gets provoked to share personal experiences".

Hope this initiative turns out to be a more substantial one than Seedhi Baat on Aaj Tak, or Walk the Talk on NDTV/Indian Express, the Big Fight on the same channel, or for that matter the numerous insignificant "Live Chat" sessions on Rediff.com. I happened to read P. Chidambaram's interview on this forum a couple of weeks ago - seemed more in-depth than the other vapid banal ones I've read and seen in the past.

Beautiful, beautiful K!

2007-02-10T22:10:00.000+05:30

PGP08 , PGP09 , PGP10 , PGP11.

2007-02-07T20:48:00.000+05:30

Have had a fabulous January. Backwaters 2007 was an experience of a lifetime, immediately followed up by the IIMK-IIMB sports meet, newly christened 'Sangram'. More on both of these later, definitely.

The Alumni Weekend 'Nostalgia' next week was incredible, and we meet a lot of guys from PGP08 - the 2004-2006 batch. They were a lot of fun - Kunal, Rohit, Sandeep, Pakao, Vishak - wish you guys had been around when PGP10 came in - we'd have had a riot of a time!

Last weekend, 17 of us travelled to IIM Bangalore for Unmaad, B's annual cultural fest. Took part in a play for the first time in a long long time! Met up with old friends from the Pune IMS GD/PI days after months! Of course, what transpired to and from Bangalore deserves a blog post for itself! What an adventure and a half!

As of now, PGP09 - the seniors - are all getting majorly senti. Most of 'em have finished their lectures, and are gearing up for their final end-sems. Yearbooks are being filled up, Orkut profiles and Google Talk ids are being exchanged (PGP09 will have been the last pre-Google Talk batch :-), "Farewell IIMK" posts are being penned on PGP09's blogs, and trips across Kerala, to Lakshadweep, to Goa are being planned! Phew!

At the same time, we've begun planning for PGP11's arrival. If you've received a call from IIMK, or know someone who has, please direct him/her to mentor.iimk.ac.in . There are 15 of us who'll be handling any queries any call-getters might have.

Sigh. I've had interactions with 4 batches of IIMK this month. From our super-seniors, PGP08 to the forthcoming PGP11. This famed Hill-Top Kampus has seen 3 batches now pass through its portals, and the nearby NIT campus has seen the previous 6. We'll miss PGP09 like crazy. We're excited at the opportunity of being able to give hazaar gyaan to the junies, but it also means that soon there'll be no one to turn to when you need gyaan yourself. PGP09 are a bunch of extremely talented, fun, caring folks, and (for the most part! )have been great seniors. More on them shortly. They deserve a post all to themselves too, for sure!

By the way, we're right in the middle of our Term 3 midsems. There are two exams tomorrow, and I have no idea why I've decided to return to this blog during this rather delicate period. Adios, and let's hope I do follow up on the two or three posts I've promised to write!

From A/30, in the deep dark recesses of Hostel A, IIMK, this is RG signing off!

Racism on "Big Brother": This isn't the real thing!

2007-01-19T11:33:00.000+05:30

Pamela Philipose on the political outrage that the Shilpa Shetty and "Big Brother" controversy has aroused:

Those housemates are paid to be on their best bad behaviour, for heaven’s sake. So when one of them spits out the word ‘Paki’ at ‘poor’ Shilpa Shetty, inside a studio-created hothouse, it has to — even if it somewhere does mimic the truth — be distinguished from the verbal attacks, with or without knives that are played out on Britain’s mean streets. Investing the gratuitous insults that came Shetty’s way with the same high seriousness demanded when an Indian schoolboy is murdered in a Manchester playground would undermine our ability to recognise and respond to the real thing.

Cerebral? CPI(M)?

2007-01-14T23:28:00.000+05:30

If there is one thing that you can't criticise the CPI(M) for, it's lack of intellectual capital - an essential asset that both other mainstream political parties regularly display their spectacular lack of.

I stumbled upon the CPI(M)'s "weekly organ", People's Democracy, while searching the Internet for the latest on the fate of the Electricity Bill 2003. Sure enough, among the top results was an article in this journal about the CPI(M)'s stance on the issue. Unfortunately, the article itself was an anti-liberal, pro-labour diatribe about the pandemonium this piece of legislation would cause, but for all its vitriol, it was an extremely lucid argument (albeit based on ancient, cobweb-covered assumptions about the world).

The design of the journal's website is very 1995-style (as is the home page of the CPI(M) website). That singular negative remark apart, the page layout is smart - articles are grouped together by contemporary issue, with a list of archived editions on the right-hand sidebar. The home page of the CPI(M) website is designed much the same - contemporary issues get the exposure they deserve on prime web real estate, unlike the BJP and Congress websites, where valuable screen space has been wasted on utterly useless pictures of party leaders and artifical, banal self-congratulatory slogans. I wonder if the web team at either of these parties has even bothered to check their left-leaning friends' home page.

If they did, they'd notice the rich content made available there: neatly listed links to periodicals, publications, press releases, election records, committee records, and articles. They'd realise how important it is for your web page to demonstrate you're a party that means business, that knows what it's talking about, that has clearly defined views on issues that matter to its voters (notice the right-hand section of the CPI(M) home page - "Left parties on:" followed by a list of issues that are debated in the media every day - petroleum pricing, SEZs, the Budget, Iran, Airport modernization, FDI, among others). The BJP and the Congress have treated the web as merely a extension of the street, and have plastered their websites with the same kind of slogans and pictures that emblazon their street-side banners and placards - without a thought for the fact that the Internet and the street attract two very different audiences.

It's a telling statement about the abyssmal state of governance today. Today, the Left is the only party that weilds real power at the Centre - where it either strong-arms its policies through, or endlessly delays ones that it deems opposed to its ideology. Sadly, the only party that displays any evidence of rational insight is the one with the most retrograde view of the world.

Backwaters Ahoy!!

2007-01-11T20:14:00.000+05:30

OK peoples! Backwaters 2007 - IIM Kozhikode's annual cultural fest begins tomorrow! For 3 days - the 12th, 13th and 14th of January, the Kampus will look very different indeed!

Here's the schedule for the next 3 days. There are a few dozen on-the-spot events. Euphoria'll be performing on the 14th, and Mother Jane (a "progressive metal act" from Cochin) will be playing on the 13th.

If you're coming over to K for BW07 and need guidance reaching the hill-top campus, contact Shubhadeep Dhar at +919846330866 or Jerin Raj at +919387403146. If you aren't - well, we'll make sure you don't miss out on too much. Just stay glued to the Backwaters Blog.

Seeya here!

Justification!

2007-01-05T22:09:00.000+05:30

It's funny how, in the first lecture of every course, the instructor always begins with a lengthy discussion on "Why you should study so-and-so", "how so-and-so course will be important to you in your career as a manager", and the like. It's almost as if the professor's justifying the existence of the course as part of the curriculum!

You know it's an Asian Century when...

2006-12-26T01:00:00.000+05:30

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is a Korean.

The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency is an Egyptian.

The next head of the International Energy Agency will be Japanese.

The Director-General-elect of the World Health Organization is Chinese.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is Thai.

International Policy, Energy, Trade and Health. All headed by Asians. Asian Century indeed.

The Dalai Lama gives in - finally

2006-12-26T00:27:00.000+05:30

Reuters India: The Dalai Lama has finally stated unequivocally that Tibet is better off as a part of China. The struggle for independence has now been watered down to a demand for "meaningful autonomy", and an acquiescence of the benefits of potential economic development under Chinese rule.

Is this a sellout? Is this an admission of defeat in a 50-year-long struggle? Is this merely pragmatism? I wonder what the thousands of Tibetans-in-exile in Dharamsala must feel, what must go on in the minds of the countless protestors that have inevitably shown up in large numbers wherever a Chinese Premier (Zemin, and now Hu Jintao) has visited a foreign capital. Even if what the Dalai Lama says is indeed the "least bad" alternative in the circumstances, will this volte-face shake the faith of Tibetans in the institution of the Dalai Lama? The Tibetans have been betrayed by the United States once, when CIA support for their uprising against the Chinese was withdrawn in the late 1960s. Will their own leader desert their cause now?

I wonder how much of this has to do with the dialogue between India and China over their border dispute. In a nutshell, China has agreed to recognize Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh as Indian Territory in return for India's support for Chinese occupation of Tibet. Part of the agreement is probably for India to persuade the Dalai Lama (and the Tibetan Government-in-exile) to accept China's sovereignty over Tibet and instead push simply for cessation of the "cultural genocide" in Tibet that the Dalai Lama accuses China of.

Given China's relentless efforts to connect Tibet with the rest of the country - the much-publicized Quinghai-Lhasa railway is the latest example - the assent of either the Dalai Lama or India is irrelevant. However, continued protests over Tibet, and demonstrations during foreign visits is bad publicity for a country that wants to be seen as an attractive investment and tourism destination. Political opposition may not matter, but Economics may dictate otherwise.

No longer will the Government produce cars!

2006-12-21T15:23:00.000+05:30

CNN-IBN reports on the Government's decision to sell its stake in Maruti Udyog Ltd.

Update: Reuters provides a quick but detailed history of the Maruti-Suzuki JV.

It isn't that it really mattered any more (Bharat Sarkaar held only 10.27% after several rounds of disinvestment, so decision-making was in Suzuki's hands), but the exit is important from a policy perspective. It proves, to a certain degree, that Government economic policy can yet be rational and not chained by dogma. The Government had no business producing cars for its people:

Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981 through an Act of Parliament, to meet the growing demand of a personal mode of transport caused by the lack of an efficient public transport system.

Its effort and finances could have been better spent improving that very public transport system and road infrastructure, which continues to be among the shoddiest in the world, 25 years on. I'm wondering how different things could have been (even given the "revolution" in the Indian automotive sector since the late 90s) had the Government simply allowed Suzuki (and everyone else, of course) to set up manufacturing units locally without having to go through the forced joint venture route.

Stunning - Rainbow at K!

2006-12-10T19:22:00.000+05:30

Trust Saurabh Garg to come up with this! Check out more from this genius-in-the-making here!

Say hello to Boron, the latest entrant to the PGP course!

2006-12-10T09:20:00.000+05:30

Here's Boron with his siblings a couple of weeks ago. This is before he secured admission.

Living on the dead line

2006-12-10T09:16:00.000+05:30

I've been maintaining a "deadlines.txt" file since the last week of November. So, dear reader, take a gander what we at K have been through lately!

Jargon key:
FM - Financial Management, OB - Organizational Behaviour, Manac/MA - Management Accounting, OR - Operations Research, ME - Macroeconomics, BE - Business Ethics, OM - Operations Management.

Week 1 (Nov27 - Dec3)
* monday FM quiz
* monday FM lockheed tristar caselet
* monday OB voluntary presentation report

* tuesday OB voluntary presentation
* tuesday OR quiz

* wednesday manac quiz
* wednesday OR ILP assignment submission
* Wednesday read up for ME lecture

* thursday OM presentation
* thursday FM mini-case from Chapter 5

* saturday BE assignment submission

Week 2 (Dec4 - Dec10)
* monday OM book review
* monday OB final report submisson
* monday FM The Super Project
* monday OM final report submission
* monday FM Test

* tuesday OR project management assignment
* tuesday FM Super project submission

* thursday OM McDonald case

* friday MA Quiz

* saturday BE presentation
* saturday ME presentation

Week 3 (Dec11 - Dec15)
monday FM Ameritrade case submission
monday OM book review and case presentation

tuesday MA pre-end term

wednesday OB End Term
wednesday MA End Term

thursday BE End Term
thursday OM End Term

friday ME Nanda Report due
friday ME End Term
friday OR End Term

First Claim, Prime Minister?

2006-12-09T23:39:00.000+05:30

Manmohan Singh better explain himself:

“We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources,” Singh said.

CNN-IBN's proofreading hits a new low

2006-12-09T23:29:00.000+05:30

I cannot fathom how an article of this shoddy quality was able to make it to CNN-IBN's website under the "news" section:

Kerala's eating champion is dead

The language used in the report is apalling. Sample this:

He had a reputation of winning eating competitions across Kerala.

Some hormones in his brain made Rappai a food maniac, opine doctors.

Rappai had a very simple breakfast – just 75 idlis and as many number of tea as possible. Again at 10 am he ate any number of Dosas and a sumptuous meal for lunch.

Again Dosas, Parathas and sufficient tea at 3.30 pm and Puttu, idli, dosa, rice… anything for supper. Challenge him at a competition – he took 250 idlis, 15-litre pudding, 15 kg Halva and what not?

This paragraph just before the end of the artice takes the cake:

Rappai had hypothalamus. His satiating point never reached the satisfying point. He was diabetic and had pain in the joints, all caused because of obesity. His hands and legs were weak during the last days.

Of course, we all know that the hypothalamus is a part of the brain and not, as CNN-IBN would have us believe, a mental illness.

I don't quite know what to make of this report. Is it hilarious? Is it worrying?

Prof. Abhiram Ranade on... Happiness?

2006-12-07T23:29:00.000+05:30

I have never had the good fortune of interacting with Prof. Ranade at IIT Bombay, but I've heard enough of him from Devdatta to hold him in extremely high regard. Now, it seems, Shantanu, Devdatta's equally (or more?) talented brother is undergoing a course under the professor's tutelage.

In a most interesting post, Shantanu says Prof. Ranade asked them to write an essay on Happiness - as part of their course on the Design and Analysis of Algorithms! Find Shantanu's undoubtedly engaging essay here. However, what fascinates Shantanu (and now me) is that the professor took time out to write a commentary on his students' essays! The complete email he sent is here. This is a must-read, in my opinion, for the 1200+ of us studying for our MBA from the IIMs. The beautifully simple essay has some elementary home truths we seem to have all but forgotten:

On Academics

...it is worth asking yourself whether you are happy with academics. By this I dont mean the grade you get -- but whether the material you learn is itself causing any excitement in you, whether you are feeling that you are learning anything of significance, or whether you are seeing anything beautiful in what you are studying. The beauty/excitement in academics is not always easy to see, however. Anyone can see the beauty in snow clad mountains/flowers/ocean. To see the beauty in a computer you need to be able to look under the surface a little bit.

On Job Satisfaction

...as an adult it is very important to get a lot of satisfaction out of your work... You may have salary/promotions/prestige but may not really like your job. If this happens, then you will have to look elsewhere for your real happiness -- remember you only have 6-8 hours for it outside your work... decide for yourself whether the Narayan Murthys of the world accomplish a lot because they like their work intrinsically or whether they work (even without liking it much) because of the money/prestige involved.

Finally, on Competition

... competition keeps us on our toes. It asks us "how come he/she gets so many marks while I cannot, am I just lazy?". If you think you are working hard, then you could ask yourself -- "how come he/she gets more marks and understands everything faster -- is there something more he/she sees in all this that I dont? Is it because he/she is having more FUN with this than I am?". If you can ask such questions you will be able to make competition work for you than hurt you.

360-degree view of IIMK!

2006-12-06T19:30:00.000+05:30

Here's Kampus like you've never seen it before! The Backwaters website now sports a rotating, 360-degree view of famous Hill-top campus. Go ahead, check out God's Own Campus - and make sure you're here for Backwaters!

The Dabbawallahs at IIMK!

2006-12-02T09:58:00.000+05:30

The Dabbawallahs from back home in Bombay spent last weekend here at K. They were here to deliver a talk on their rather complex Operations systems at OPUS 2006.

What struck me most was the ingenious marking system they have on the top of each lunch box that they ferry. The marking system's been in its current form since 1972, when the current president (a certain Raghunath Megde) took over from his father.

The Dabbawallahs just before their press conference

I was surprised how much at ease they were addressing large audiences - testimony to the fact that they've done this a dozen times before, at universities in the US too. Although they're very humble, their talk is complete with presentation slides and statistics, and quips and anecdotes. They're also very much aware of what a supply chain is, or the significance of their Six Sigma certification. At the same time, they almost smug about the fact that they've been running operations for over a hundred years without knowing about these terms or taking lessons on "best practices" from experts in the West.

And the press coverage they command! Business Standard, the Hindu, the Hindustan Times, the Times of India, and a host of local TV channels covered the event. Why, there was also a full-fledged press conference at the end of the talk. These guys are a phenomenon!

Touring Kampus

"The Road Less Travelled"

2006-11-30T15:35:00.000+05:30

Dad - this is a reply to the comment you left on my blog post about the Economic Times article that featured me ("Some IIM grads take choose to take the road less travelled").

You asked "...the road less travelled. This raises two questions. First, does being less travelled mean that the road is smooth - not been used at all? Secondly if it has not yet been laid, does the initial travel become rough? It can also mean it was laid and not been used for long, so requires relaying first and then travel. What are your comments?"

Why have I dropped out of the placement season at IIMK? After all, the IIMs are the ticket for a select 1200-odd to the best jobs in the country, nay, the world. The promise of those jobs, those locations, those salaries, is the payoff for the the hundreds of hours of rigorous CAT preparation, the constant grading and comparison with tens of thousands of aspirants, the crushing pressure of the CAT itself, the final push during the utterly ruthless GDs and interviews, and the agonizing wait for the admits. Why did I choose put myself through all this, resign from a perfectly well-paying and exciting career at IBM and pursue an MBA education, while also choosing to forego its ultimate reward?

What I wanted from an IIM was the experience. The chance to learn a dozen new things a day. To be around smart people. To build a network at a level I'd have great difficulty doing in the normal course of work. That aspect of an IIM education, it appears, has been all but forgotten today. I also wanted to be taken seriously as a professional who can, "turn ideas into products and products into businesses". I'd take forever gaining that credibility as a member of technical staff at IBM. Combining this experience at IBM with an IIM education gives that to me instantly. Finally, I recall what I told one of my classmates en route KJSCE one morning in 2003. That I wanted to study in the USA for an MS degree primarily because didn't want the trash that was dished out at Bombay University to be my only experience of higher education. Although my MS plans changed, that desire didn't.

So you see, among all my reasons, "placements" doesn't even figure. Consequently, it was the most natural thing in the world for me to have opted out of Summers. I knew I'd be looking for companies on my own before I even took the CAT.

So is the road less travelled rough? The classic MBA answer is "it depends!" (this answer, by the way, has been found to be The Right Answer under all circumstances, with all people, in any situation). On the one hand, I'm having a wonderful time studying only for the courses that appeal to me, not too bothered about the Rat Race around me, and, of course, getting to know so many different people around me here.

But the road is not smooth at all. This approach to my MBA has tested my physical and emotional strength and perseverance nearly every day. Yet, as Steve Jobs said, "The Journey is the Reward". I'm having a great time looking around for the companies that I'd like to work with, hunting down people to speak to about these firms, zeroing in on the final few, and then pitching myself to them (and them to me). Is this difficult? Undoubtedly. You'll need to think hard, think fast, think smart, be bold, work hard, stay alert and finally, be very patient. You'll need to rise above everyday issues that bother you, you'll need to resist the temptation to compete for grades at the expense of your pursuit. You'll need to have the strength to give up positions of power in student committees, and fight the inevitable feeling of lost opportunity at seeing your colleagues get into the best of firms.

For I know that on the Road Less Travelled, I am doing precisely what I want; I know that I am living life on my own terms. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

The "MBA" blog

2006-11-30T13:57:00.000+05:30

I've given in to the temptation - 2paiseworth.blogspot.com will now be my "MBA" blog. A chronicle of the goings-on at IIM Kozhikode and the other IIMs, and my thoughts on large issues and small. In other words, it'll live up to its tag-line "the world through K-tinted glasses!"

Oh, and perhaps the finest "MBA" blog I've read yet is the (now-defunct) one by Sathish V.M. who, incidentally, also happens to be from IIMK (Batch of 2005, a.k.a PGP07, for all you readers from K).

The placement process at IIM Ahmedabad

2006-11-30T12:04:00.000+05:30

Vinamra Srivastava from IIM Ahmedabad gives a detailed description of how the summer placements process is handled at A. From what happened in the dorms the night before Day Zero, the operations and logistics, the stress and the exhilaration, Vinamra tells it all!

IIM Indore's "Life" blog

2006-11-30T11:55:00.000+05:30

iLife is a nice concept - an attempt to give readers a peep into the goings-on at IIM Indore. A nice beginning, but needs a lot of work. Worth checking out.

IIM Kozhikode runs on rain water!

2006-11-30T11:26:00.000+05:30

A sterling example of rain water harvesting at Kampus. As the article says:

This B-school's 96-acre campus occupies two steep hillocks. There is no independent water source for the entire institute and the average daily water consumption exceeds one lakh litres.

Yet, there hasn't been a single instance of any water supply problem since we came here in June. How do we do it? Well, there's a lot of planning that went into the building of this campus from between 2000 and 2003.

(Of course, it also helps that Kerala gets rain pretty much through the year!)

There's a large lake at the bottom of the hills - the cricket and football ground's right beside it - and that's the one that holds all the water that runs down the two hills. A filtering plant and pumphouse are nestled between the lake and the foot of the hill, almost invisible in the thicket.

Apart from this, there are a few extremely innovative design decisions that were made:

... all the buildings in the campus are fitted with built-in cement gutters. The down pipes have a box-like cement structure in between. This is to stop the leaves that might travel along with the run-off from the roof.

The building team marked the contour lines of the hills and retained some of the older gullies that acted as storm-water drains. (They were formed as a result of run-off.) A few drains we

re constructed afresh. From the top area, upto a distance, the canals were lined with cement.

This takes the cake, though:

In many other areas, the slopes were prone to erosion. An altogether new idea was tried to stabilise this. Use of coconut geo-textiles (GT) supplied by the Coir Board. A geo-textile is a woven fabric capable of passing water but able to hold back soil. It looks like a thick mat and is of the colour of wood. After preparing the land surface, the GT was spread over the land. Seeds of Congo-signal grass were either broadcast or were dibbled through the GT. Today, you don't see any traces of the textile anywhere. But the grass remains as a thick vegetative cover. (In a couple of seasons, the GT decays and mixes with soil. By that time, grass covers the area thickly. No soil is put over the geo-textile (GT) when it is initially spread.)

I'll post a photograph of this place (it's actually very pretty after sundown) once I get hold of one.

Devdatta's US Year!

2006-11-06T12:43:00.000+05:30

Devdatta Gangal, (whom I've known since we were 7) writes about his first year in the US , as a business analyst for Capital One. In one of the most absorbing narratives I've read, Devdatta takes us through his job, his company, his friends, his travels, his thoughts, likes, dislikes, dilemmas, and his future plans. Fascinating, and a must-read!

Give 'em a course in Macroeconomics

2006-10-24T10:27:00.000+05:30

There are times when you wonder why our policymakers never studied elementary Macroeconomics. They'd probably be more circumspect before making harebrained, emotional judgements. I'm referring to the outcry by India's scientific community earlier this year against the India-US nuclear deal. Common opinion among them seems to be that India, just as it had in the past, ought to continue to develop indigenous nuclear technology, and that our nuclear energy projects were doing just fine, thank you.

The other day, in our Macroeconomics class, we were examining how Japan, starting in the early post-war period, was able to catch up with the US in terms of per-capita GDP.

Neoclassical growth theory contends that growth in output is due to labour growth, capital accumulation and technological progress (or productivity, also known as the "Solow residual".)

Now, to quote Dornbusch, Fischer and Startz,

"During the early postwar period, Japanese growth (this is GDP per capita) was an amazing 5.59 points higher than U.S. growth... we can show that this difference is too large to be explained by relative capital accumulation... 4.48 points [are] explained by relative differences in technlogical change...

"During the early postwar period, Japan actively imported techonlogy from the West. Starting from a lower base level of technology, a huge amount of growth was possible through "technology catch-up".

Indeed. The famous study by Robert Solow of MIT concluded that over 80% of the growth in output per labour hour in the US between 1909 and 1949 was due to this technical progress. Access to similar technology is also the most dominant factor for "convergence" of economies - that is, converging to a common standard of living in the long run.

Finally, while introducing Growth and Policy, the venerable Dornbusch, Fischer and Startz provide the most damning indictment of our "go-it-alone" policy: "Invention of new technology is much less important for poorer countries, because poorer countries can grow by "borrowing" technology, as well as by investing in physical and human capital."

'Nuff said.

Thinking in Tables

2006-10-24T09:39:00.000+05:30

One of the things I've learnt in Term 2 is to think in tables. To organise information from a case, or a numerical problem, in tabular form. For Operations Research, or Financial Management, a lot of stuff needs to be "plugged" into Excel. Modelling Linear Programming Problems, or a whole bunch of things in Bond and Stock valuation, for instance, require you to break your data into components, build rows and columns out of them, and set up your calculation formulae. Take this elementary Bond Duration example:

The right-hand side shows what you're given - " Calculate the duration of a 4 year, 10% coupon bond with YTM (yield to maturity) 8%, compounded semi-annually". Now you've got to think in terms of columns - you know that the duration is the present-value-weighted average of your periods, but how do you set that up? First your periods, then your coupons, then your deflated PVs, then your weights, then your weight component, and finally your duration. Don't even get me started on modelling real-life cases in OR!

Perhaps it comes naturally to a lot of folks, but it's only after a lot of hard work that I can "think in tables" with any degree of comfort!

Yeh World Hai na World...

2006-10-14T16:19:00.000+05:30

...ismein do tarah ke log rehte hain. Ek, jo Marketing mein major karte hain, aur doosre, jo Finance mein major karte hain. Is that quite true? I see so many resumes around where people's first and second majors are "Marketing" and "Finance". These guys want both - or do they have their feet in both boats because, well, they don't know which one they want?

Shailesh "The Ignorant" Gopale, in his own inimitable manner, draws an eminently-readable analogy!

I've been sketching...

2006-09-26T23:35:00.000+05:30

This was on the last page of a notebook, with a pen. Within 2 hours of returning to IIMK! :-)

Lenovo Design Blog!

2006-09-26T10:04:00.000+05:30

Now here's something which was long overdue: a blog on design from Lenovo! First impressions are very encouraging.

I'm also enthused by the fact that the contributors are the Executive Director, Lenovo Corporate Identity and Design, the Design Center Manager , Lenovo Notebook Development, Japan and the Executive Director, Lenovo Innovation Design Center, Beijing. These guys clearly know their stuff; the Japan design center has contributed to the design of the legendary IBM Thinkpad.

However, this blog is going to take some serious effort to maintain. A continual stream of high-quality articles like this one on the design of the Lenovo 3000 Notebooks, is essential. I, for one, welcome this blog into my Feed list on Google Reader!

[Posted on rahulgaitonde.org and 2paiseworth.blogspot.com]

Where are Rediff's proofreaders?

2006-09-25T21:34:00.000+05:30

From a special slide show on Bishen Singh Bedi:

...in India's grandest years, from 1970 to 1973, Bedi and the other spinners benefited enormously from wonderful close catching exemplified and inspired by the prehensile Eknath Solkar.

Umm - prehensile? Wikipedia defines prehensility as "the quality of an organ that has adapted for grasping or holding". I'm sure that doesn't make Solkar exceptional in any sense!

If Rediff aspires to compete with the best content portals on the Internet, its proofreaders have to do a far better job than this.