Gandhi Jayanti , Independence and some Thoughts !

I may be wrong but I get a feel that Gandhi was less remembered this year on 2nd October as compared to the  previous times ! Wonder if it is a reflection of the fact that we are no longer apologetic about forgetting Gandhian values and embarking on a path of materialistic growth. Government too seems to have put him aside by announcing FDI in all possible fields. Swaraj, swabhimaan and self sufficiency , why these words sound so hollow ?

Let us take up another issue, what are our achievements as a nation ? Agreed GDP has grown, literacy is higher, poverty is lesser,more jobs are available, roads are flooded with cars, malls are buzzing with people,yet we are not happy ! Crime rate is higher, women is not safe, senior citizen are murdered brutally, children disappear like the air, everybody is getting more and more intolerant, hyper and insensitive to others' plight. Where have we gone wrong ?

We were known as a spiritual nation and materialism was considered a taboo but last thirty years have seen a gradual reversal of our value system.In the rat race to acquire wealth did we as a society sacrific family bond ? Possibly yes and this transformation whether for good or otherwise is seen in all strata of the society. It is seen that people migrate from villages to cities in search of greener pasture and end up without a job. If they are lucky and have a social net to help them , it is fine otherwise they are lured into crime .Today 'Ham Log' of Doordarshan is replaced by 24 hours of nonsense on cable television with crime, lust, treachery and such other themes dominating the programming content.Are we on the right track then ?

What about leadership ? Can we name any politician who can be a role model for this generation of youth ? Some names may crop up but  they are either media creations  or dynastic awataars. The hype and hoolsh surrounding them is artificially created and the charisma is short lived. Gandhiji, Shastriji , Nehru and Tagore are mere names that children mug up to clear the exams. Hanna Montana and Katrina ; Justin Bieber and Salman Khan ...these are some of the idols . What are the lessons that this generation can get from them ?

Sometimes I feel that I am being too cynical, critical and find fault with everything !!! What to do, these thoughts invariably cross my mind.

What do I do then ? Get annoyed, grumpy and moody ? Of course not , I watch Citizen Journalist,follow good stories on twitter, watch movies like Swadesh and Three Idiots .... and do my best to bring smile on other people's face.The biggest stress buster is my grand mother , who at 97 lives alone, manages to laugh and never lets negative thoughts overpower her...and when I think of her..Swaraj, swabhimaan and self sufficiency .......these words no longer sound  hollow ....

Surrogate Advertising

Surrogate Advertising

Product advertising for liquor and cigarette companies is banned in the country since 1995 by Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act. According to Rule 7 (2) of the Act, no broadcaster is permitted to show advertisement which promotes directly or indirectly promotion, sale or consumption of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants, infant milk substitution, feeding bottle or infant food. This ban is now likely to be extended to advertising of extended brands. 

https://www.exchange4media.com/advertising-news/surrogate-ads-of-tobacco-liquor-not-only-illegal-but-unethical-too-say-experts-116264.html

In June 2002, the Indian Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry served notices to leading television broadcasters to ban the telecast of two surrogate ads of liquor brands McDowell No.1 and Gilbey’s Green Label. The Ministry also put some other brands ---Smirnoff Vodka, Hayward’s 5000, Royal Challenge Whiskey and kingfisher beer on a “watch list.” The surrogates used by these advertisements ranged from audiocassettes, CDs, perfumes to golf accessories and mineral water. A market survey in 2001 revealed that advertising has a direct influence on the consumption habits of 431 million people in India and an indirect impact on 275 million `aspirants' from the lower income group. Considering this and realizing that nearly 50 per cent of the television owners have access to cable channels, there is no doubt that the hidden call for alcohol consumption behind the surrogate advertisements is not escaping the eyes of viewers in the world's fourth highest liquor-consuming country. The very purpose of banning liquor advertisements is defeated by surrogate advertising.  A surrogate advertisements is one in which a different product is promoted using an already established brand name. Such advertisements or sponsorships help in contribute to brand recall. The different product shown in the advertisement is called the “Surrogate.” It could either resemble the original product or could be a different product altogether, but using the established brand of the original product. The sponsoring of sports/cultural/leisure events and activities also falls under the purview of surrogate advertising. In India, the trend of surrogate advertisement gathered momentum with the Cable TV Network Regulation Act, which prohibits tobacco and liquor advertisements on TV channels. The liquor industry has intentionally blurred the line between products, advertising `old wine' in a `new bottle,' only this time with a soft-drink label. By August 2002, the I&B Ministry had banned 12 advertisements and leading satellite TV channels including Zee, Sony, STAR and Aaj Tak were issued show cause notices to explain their rationale behind carrying surrogate liquor advertisements. Answering to the notices, Zee and STAR stopped telecasting the advertisements, followed soon by Aaj Tak and Sony. In addition, the I&B Ministry hired a private monitoring agency to keep a watch on all the advertisements for violation of the Act.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) said it is "closely monitoring" ads being aired during the ongoing Indian Premier League, for any violation of rules. The 2022 edition of the cricket tournament, which commenced last Saturday, is set to see about ₹4,500 crore worth of advertising. Last year, the ASCI had received eight complaints about surrogate ads, duplicating the brand name and image of products like alcohol.

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/advertising/closely-monitoring-ipl-ads-for-any-violation-asci/articleshow/90504369.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Dealing with Cultural Diversity !

I am feeling happy and contended. It was about a month back when I was told that Students from the Slovak University of Agriculture Nitra will be visiting the University as part of the Student and Faculty Exchange program . The highlight of the visit was that they would be studying the course of Corporate Social Responsibility , Human Values and Ethics which coincidentally is being taught by me. Since it was a short visit for about 15 days ,I was joined by another colleague to deliver the lectures and cover the course meant for four months( with 4 hours per week of teaching ) in two weeks ( with 20 hours per week of teaching followed by Class Test and a Comprehensive End Term Examination ).

The task was challenging , compounded by the fact that students came from different disciplines comprising of Molecular Biology , Landscape Engineering, Economics and Management, Production Engineering etc. Some were Graduate students and others were pursuing Doctoral program. The course content in itself is rather ambitious in terms of the aspects it covers ; from spirituality to sustainability, ethics to environment conservation principles, corruption to Intellectual Property Rights Protection.., advertising to internet crimes to give a small illustration !

Day one began with learning about the participants followed by teaching the value of Human Values! It was a proud moment to share with them the fact that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR )has been an integral part of corporate history  of India. Way back in 1904 Jamsetji Tata had a vision to play a leading role in nation-building laying its foundation in 1868, creating India’s first Indian-owned steel plant and developing the township of Jamshedpur ; an example of a company more engaged in the life of the community than many of its western competitors !CSR as a part of strategy is relatively a new concept in Slovakia, I was told.

Yet another issue where we seem to have different perspective is about the significance of afirmative action as part of the social justice system.While political parties and judiciary in India has endorsed affirmative action in the form of quota in education and job , apparently it is illegal there, The argument was that it hampers efficiency and growth. Besides if the government offers subsidy to corporations that employ disadvantaged groups it will be at the expense of taxpayers money which should instead be invested on augmenting overall health and education system etc.Rather convincing arguments!

Arguments took a back seat though as we celebrated the festival of Holi. The Slovak students sang Rang Barse Bheege Chunar Wali and gave us glimpse of their Folk Dance as well. Unfortunately what we offered to them in the name of fusion was Bollywood crap. The difficult moment was when I was confronted with a question as to why one of the girls from Slovakia was asked to dance with another girl in a Discotheque they visited.She said in their country it is considered strange if boys dance with boys and girls with girls .Okashii desu ne is what my Japanese friends would also say ! The fact was that the Slovak girl was very pretty and one of the young married boy wanted to dance with her . His wife got annoyed and in order to pacify her he made Eva, the Slovak girl dance with his wife ,

 But more than teaching , it proved out to be learning experience for me.While it made me learn to accept diversity of culture , I also identified that the core values of love, care, warmth and friendship are universal   which made us connect cutting across the geographical boundaries. So I am looking forward to more such programs. 

InsideOut: Open Letter to Shri Anna Hazare

InsideOut: Open Letter to Shri Anna Hazare

Random Thoughts-From Muslim Reservation to Lokpal....

It was an extremely busy day...landed at Delhi in the morning and rushed to Dwarka for the Annual Convocation.. Evening news bulletins were filled with coverage of news about Reservation for OBC Muslims, Nationwide protest against FDI in Retail,  Lokpal Bill and differences among the members of Standing Committee and another day marked by adjouranment of Loksabha .Congress government is bringing  in reservation for OBC muslims and I wish reservation is also considered for poor section of upper caste population.  I was never in favor of any kind of reservation but it is here to stay because of our politicians, so it is better that its beneft reaches to all those who deserve it. As far as statistics go ,  a large section of muslim population is still uneducated, unemployed and bereft of development .Therefore it is logical to offer them some equalizer. Reservation in jobs could be one way of dealing with this aspect but the important question is how to motivate muslim children to get access to modern education while ensuring that they go for religious learning.

So much has been written about FDI in retail and its impact on agricultural supply chain that we are left with hardly any new thoughts on this issue. Lot of hue and cry was made when organized retail started with chains like Big Bazaar ,  Big Apple and Spencer. Our kirana stores are still around while many big wigs like Reliance are still struggling. Again I believe  that we should not write off any new development before giving it a chance to fail / succeed on its merit. Who knows may be our farmers actually get better payment for their output, learn about food processing and techniques of increasing shelf life of products ?

About Lokpal ...again the more  I learn about it , more is the quantum of  confusion that I discover.It is often alleged that while Class C and D employees take the bribe on behalf of senior officers , they get a minor share out of this money. Does it mean they should be left out of the ambit of Lokpal ? Why the PrimeMinister should be spared ? While travelling in Rajdhani today, I gave Rs. 10 to the Catering staff in return for his good service , did I committ the crime of giving him money which is unaccounted ?  Should I along with other fellow passengers be charged with abatement to corruption .....I am clueless.....

IIT JEE Reforms ???

Mr.Kapil Sibbal declared that IIT JEE entrance system is being rejigged and class 12 marks of various boards will form part of the ranking system for admission in IITs.He also informed that normalization of class 12 marks of various board will be undertaken Merit list prepared on the basis of normalized board marks and an aptitude test will be used for admission.A section of the media lauded this announcement and claimed that this would be the death nail for the coaching industry .



When I was a faculty with BITS Pilan (1992-94) , which used the board examination marks then to arrive at merit list of students who applied for admission in the institution; I observed that the number of students from Tamil Nadu and othe southern states far outnumbered their counterpart from northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar etc..I often called it Birla Institute for Tamilians and other South Indians (BITS ) !It seems some states have developed a magical formula to ensure that a large number of students score upwards of 90 percent. Therefore there is bunching at the top end of the marks distribution in states of Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh and Keala.How do we normalize the marks obtained in different boards then is a big issue . Already statistical experts from ISI Kolkata through analysis of Class 12 marks of various boards have concluded that the marks scored across the boards can not be compared as there was hardly any correlation among the marks scored by the candidates from the various boards.



Coacing business brings in lot of pressure, no doubt; but how do you ensure that they will not devise systems to adapt to this new aptiude based test ? It is not advisable to put the young talent of the country to such experimention. Unfortunately our ministers seem to be short of the talent to figure out these dynamics.There was another announcement with respect to IIT fee but more about that later.

Once upon a time we watched doordarshan !

I was watching a program being telecast on CNN IBN....it was about music composer Illayaraja.It happens to be his birthday today .Program featured songs from his Hindi as well as Tamil films ..a treat for the ears.... In particular the song "surmai akhiyon main nanha munna ek sapna..." brought back so many memories, memories of Golden era of Doordarshan when every sunday I would watch regional movies showing jewels of Indian Cinema such as Siri Siri Muwa. This telegu movie was remade as Sargam in Hindi and was a huge success. Then there was Apoorva Raagangal, in which Kamal Haasan played a rebellious youth in love with an older woman. I saw many movies starring Kamal Haasan and became a fan of the actor. Much later he entered Hindi movie scene with Ek Duje ke Liye . I even saw original version of "Red Rose" . In Hindi version super star Rajesh Khanna played the role of a hero with a negative shade, originally played by Kamal Haasan.Only superlatives can be used for his performance. The less said about 'red Rose " and Rajesh Khanna , the better !


Such was the influence of those south Indian movies that my best friends Uma and Lakshmi were from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Now ...there is no time to watch movies ,not even Hindi and English ones so regional cinema is a thing of past...Doordarshan bhi ab door se bhi regional films nahin dikhata hai ....and in any case no body watches Doordarshan anymore.I can never forget the sensitivity with which south Indian directors treated the difficult subjects of their movies.


Man to yahi karta hai ki ....Koi lauta do mere beete hue din.....!