Monday, February 07, 2011

Whose country is it anyway


INDIA'S BEST COLLEGES, INSTITUTES and UNIVERSITIES

Belgium's got to be one of the quirkiest countries around - so quirky, that by the look of things, it's unlikely to remain a country for long. It reminds me of those couples that bring home a dog and a maid, fight over the two till the neighbours come home and then get divorced, leaving the house to the dog, the dog to the maid and the maid to the neighbours.

In my very first hour in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, I was warned at the airport to be 'careful' about my luggage''Moroccans..!! They just snatch and run'. All the way from the airport to the city, I could see women in braids or head scarves and young Arabs and Africans in clothes two sizes too big. Dirt and construction material lined the roads and the whole place looked rather depressing. If I'd slept through my journey from Delhi to Brussels and woken up in the bus transporting me from the airport, never ever would I have guessed that this was the first city of the first world'

Just for the record, I have had the good fortune of knowing some excellent North African professors who teach in Switzeralnd and Paris and I know that just like there are all kinds of Indians on the railway platforms of London, there would be all kinds of Moroccans and Congolese on the streets of Brussels. Yesterday, the Third World became the Third World because it lost its riches to colonisers who put those riches to good use and emerged as the first world. Today, some from the Third World pack their bags and leave for the First World in a bid to reclaim a fraction of those riches for themselves. Most do so through legitimate means, while others, marginalised and alienated and without the utility badges of their better educated Third World brothers give in to their frustrations and angst and take to crime in the host nation.

And the host nations react with varying degrees of tolerance. You see, they all have a lot of guilt to deal with. Their colonial past doesn't sit easy with their present day image as the standard-bearers of democracy. And a country like Belgium has more than its fair share of skeletons in its colonial cupboard. In the late 19th century, King Leopold II of Belgium, in the garb of a humanitarian, colonised the Central African region that we today know as the Democratic Republic of Congo. He sent in his private army called the FP (Force Publique), equipped with modern weapons and a directive of exploiting the region and looting its mineral wealth and collecting ivory and rubber. The latter especially was a precious commodity at this time because J. Dunlop had just come up with his pneumatic tyres.

The native Congolese men were indentured as bonded labourers, and were responsible for procuring a fixed amount of rubber. Their women and children were held hostage until the men returned with their quota of rubber and were often raped or killed or both anyway. Often their hands were chopped off as punishment or trophies. The FP was supposed to use bullets only for executing humans, not for hunting. And yet the FP would shoot animals for the pot or fun and then chop the hands off a living person to prove that the bullets had been used to kill a man. Millions' millions died either at the hands of or because of the actions of the FP. A single word of protest could lead to whole villages being burnt. The imperial boot squashed native toes, fingers and heads with unbridled and unrivalled savagery in the Belgian Congo, and the wounds haven't healed yet. Known today as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Leopold's legacy hangs heavy here'DRC lies devastated, assaulted every day because of its riches ' for aren't the most beautiful and bounteous often the ones most ravished.

Now see if you can fathom this'last week I spoke to you of the Holocaust memorial at Breendonk' Belgium still weeps for the thousands who died there during WW II. And yet Belgium is na've enough to have a memorial statue for King Leopold depicting him as a ruler 'bringing civilisation' to an African child. And then some conscientious Belgians cut off the statue's arms to remind their countrymen of the butchery carried out in Congo in the king's name.

Later, Antwerp was a big relief after Brussels. In fact it's a beautiful city with wide roads, leafy boulevards, exquisite mansions and parks. But no one seems to live here. You just don't see people. Interestingly, some of the biggest houses here are owned by Gujarati diamond merchants. On the streets here too, people remind you about being careful with your bags and wallets. In one of Antwerp's prime shopping areas I chanced upon a brawl'two Moroccan lads were screaming and rolling on the pavement like nine-pins while a tall Congolese man was laying into them with his bowling-ball like fists. Regular shoppers, Indian tourists, Belgians, and other African immigrants, watched open-mouthed until the big guy walked away with words of advice for the Arab boys, and the Moroccans got up, licked their wounds and disappeared into a store. No one intervened, no cops no security officers, no one.

The immigrant problem is one of the Belgium's gravest' many second or third generation immigrants make more money on the dole than they would have at low paying jobs and so they live off public money and while away their time looking for trouble. They are full of anger and hate because they feel that discrimination would keep them away from real jobs anyway so why bother and the religious divide doesn't help. Besides the spiraling debt, Belgium's immigrant problem is another powder-keg on a short wick, threatening a country teetering on the edge of political collapse because of fractious fault-lines that divide the Dutch-speaking Flemish in the north and French-speaking Walloons in the south'

So is Belgium worth the trip? Sure is' as an Indian in Belgium, you begin to realise that India's relative unity in diversity has indeed been no mean feat. Secondly, it is the land where chocolates and beer I'm told have acquired a unique seductive flavour, thirdly, once you get talking, the people are always polite and ready to help and lastly you should go there for the fairytale lands of Bruges, a town trapped in time and the great green valleys and forests of Ardennes, where roam the once extinct Aurochs, the wild ancestor of European domestic cattle' the sublime beauty of these mountain forests and the quaint charms of the land that time forgot more than makes up for all the quirky bits' so keep walking'.

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Monday, September 13, 2010

Yamaha YZF-R1

Yamaha YZF-R1Technical Specifications
Engine
type- Liquid cooled 4-stroke DOHC
Maximum Horse power: 133.9kw (182.1PS)/12500r/min
Maximum torque: 115.5N. m(11.8kgf.m)/10000r/min
Overall length: 2070mm

The beast: This is a killer machine that will leave you raving and ranting for super bikes thrill. This beast comes with the crossplane crankshaft design. The D-MODE (or drive mode) with rider-selectable throttle control navigates to program YCC-T performance features. The press-formed fuel tank offers a 3-D simulation technology giving the user an unmatchable experience... at least that’s what’s promised!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
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Friday, August 27, 2010

Sensex to shine in 2010?

How will the year unfold for Dalal Street? Will Sensex regain its lost glory? These are some questions that continue doing rounds in our minds even when the Sensex welcomes the year 2010 on a positive note. Experts do claim that the markets are poised to rise this year.

Dinesh Thakkar, CMD, Angel Broking believes that in 2010, the markets would build on the gains put up in 2009. As per him, the acceleration in the economic activity would hasten the earnings growth for India Inc, supporting the up move. Further, the strong liquidity inflows are unlikely to die down on back of the strong fundamentals and quality of earnings produced by India Inc., supported by reasonable valuations. In fact, as per Thakkar, banking and infrastructure are the sectors that will be out-performers in 2010, on the back of a pick in economic activity and high spend on infrastructure. Others too expect the market to make a new high in 2010 on lower volatility. N. Jayakumar, CEO, Prime Securities, is bullish on the midcap space and advises a bottoms-up approach. Moreover, contrary to what people believe, the year will be low on volatility the principle reason being that a lot of companies are planning to raise money in 2010. Prithvi Haldea, CMD of PRIME Database, believes that there is lot more to come in 2010. It’s quite clear that since October 2008 (when Sensex fell to around 8,000 levels) to January 2010 (Sensex is currently around 17,000 levels), the Sensex has regained ground considerably. But irrespective of that, what is necessary for retail investors to understand is that in a growing economy like India, savings options with much lesser risk rates provide considerably significant returns. And given how infidel stock markets are, it might be better to invest in an LIC policy than on stocks!

Manish K. Pandey

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here

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IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
Social Networking Sites have become advertising shops

Monday, July 12, 2010

With hope, all the way

December 7, 2009 will witness world leaders from 192 countries gather at Copenhagen to attend the most coveted conference – the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The conference will supposedly decide the future of our planet, which may go into oblivion if a definite framework on limiting carbon emissions before the expiry of Kyoto protocol is not formulated. UN, in its endeavour to connect with the general public, has devised a cause-related campaign with the leading ad agencies of the world (including O&M, McCann Worldgroup, Euro RSCG, MPG, Draft FCB, Tribal DDB, Colle+McVoy, Saatchi & Saatchi, Digitas, Interbrand) by the name of Hopenhagen, which signifies a more hopeful way of living in the future without any adverse effects of global warming. Seems that the mantra of hope propagated by US Prez Barack Obama will find solace in all the major ‘changes’ taking place in the world.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here

Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎
IIPM Related Links

Detail of all IIPM branches

IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON

IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)

Thursday, June 17, 2010

ITC placed a huge order of 4.5 crore

Experts claim that the Indian Premier League is all set to become the next big licensing property in the country, though it is still in nascent stages. “It is just the beginning and we believe licensing will prove to be a major source of revenue for teams participating in the tournament in years to come,” explained a spokesperson for Delhi Daredevils. But reaching that platform will not be a cake-walk by any means as Marya of License India complains, “They have no clarity on what they want to do with their brands till now. But we will be happy to pitch in if they invite us,” he adds, making a public sales pitch for IPL licensing.

In fact, for marketers in India, licensing opportunities are coming in droves from a cross-section of categories and even people. India’s national religions, Bollywood and Cricket are two potential platforms that are just waiting to be tapped. Brand analysts in fact, go so far as to say that even sundry politicians in India – at least the ones with a pan Indian image – also present a great opportunity for the future of brand licensing in the country. “If Obama can do it, why can’t our politicians,” they say. Barack Obama’s ‘Change We Need’ campaign and merchandise sold like hot cakes in United States during and after the 2008 Presidential Elections. And by the way, who says Bihar is backward? Here’s some news to feed on. The state may be falling off the map so far as human development indicators are concerned, but so far as licensing of hot political brands is concerned, this one leads from the front. Already Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar are saleable properties in Bihar, and fire-crackers, dolls and even fodder branded in their names sells like hot potatoes here.

Speaking about Lalu, Marya has a line to add, “Brand Lalu has a lot of unlocked value attached and even today, if copyrighted and utilised well, it will sell like anything.” He however warns that in the case of political brands, there are hardly any which sell beyond a time frame of 5-10 years, of course, the Gandhi brand being the big exception here.

Commercial, character or political, fact is, brand licensing has arrived in India to stay. Nicholas Bloom, AVP – Brand Management, Beanstalk Group remarks, “For licensees, acquiring rights for a particular brand empowers them to intensify their market share in the category and often results in gaining incremental shelf space at retail.” What companies here should note is that having a prominent brand licence can open-up new channels or regions for a licensee’s product(s), that were previously unavailable and can also help a licensee acquire additional licenses or even raise capital.

Surely threats of brand-overstretch or misuse do exist, but does that matter when examples of brands (Electrolux and Anchor) that made more money from licensing activities than from sales of their core products, abound? Sometimes, the brand becomes the father of the basic product; and as far as making money goes, it outruns and outlives even the core product. Go ahead people, indulge in the power and prowess of your super brand!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here

Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎
IIPM Related Links
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON

IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri