Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Bhartiya City ‘Run for the City’ supports TCS World 10 K Bangalore

14052014

Bangalore 14th May 2014: Bhartiya City’s ‘Run for the City’ kicks off May 18 at the TCS World 10 K Bangalore 2014, uniting thousands of Nikoo home owners, friends and employees in a celebration of sport, style, design and culture. Bhartiya City, an integrated city spanning 125-acres near Hebbal in Bangalore and envisioned as the largest development of its kind within metro limits in India will come together on the track as the running enthusiasts participate in the seventh edition of TCS World 10 K Bangalore 2014 flagged off from the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

‘Run for the City’ will  serve up a unique experience that speaks to the city’s character and energy and marks Bhartiya City’s conviction of a healthy and active Namma Bengaluru and contributions towards the noble causes that the World 10K stands for. 

Commenting on Bhartiya City’s participation, G Raghavan, CEO Bhartiya City said, “This is a unique event and it is encouraging as it reinforces Bhartiya’s commitment to giving back to the communities in which we operate as well as helps promote a healthy, active lifestyle. At Bhartiya we take great pride in sponsoring events that provide our community with a world class experience of both sports and entertainment represented in the concerts like the Santana and Guns & Roses that were conducted in the Bhartiya City. We are delighted that in our inaugural year, both Nikoo home owners and employees shall come together to contribute generously and extend support to a worthwhile cause by participating the TCS10K run, which brings Bangalore together in many ways.”


 

Bhutan Newsletter

14052014
Kuzu zang pola (Hello)!
 
This month, let us look at some of the up coming events/festivals and also some interesting news/articles features on Bhutan from around the world. Not just that Bhutan had some fascinating in country events that you will read about below. This month as we still enjoy the peach blossoms and warms weather, there is bit of a shower which makes it cool in the evening and balmy warm afternoons.
STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Discover A Kingdom Where Happiness Rules: An article from  the Globe and Mail. Continue reading
 
On Foot in Thimphu: Walking on the street Thimphu in Bhutan, a country that is high on Gross National Happiness. Continue reading
 
Confluence of Bollywood, Art and Travel at Bhutan Lit Festival: The fifth edition of literary festival Mountain Echoes in Bhutan. Continue reading
 
UPCOMING EVENTS/FESTIVALS IN BHUTAN
Bhutan-Thailand Friendship offer: An opportunity waiting to happen this summer 2014. This summer visitors from Thailand-Thai nationals and Thai residents have an opportunity to visit Bhutan under special offer.
Continue reading
 
Royal Enfield Tour of Bhutan: The 2014 edition of the Tour of Bhutan is an epic motorcycle journey, one that every motorcyclist must include in their bucket list. Continue reading
 
Ura Yakchoe (May): Ura Valley in Bumthang is known for the famous dance known as the Ura Yakchoe. The dance performed during the festival that is held every May. During the festival a sacred and important relic is put on display. Continue reading
For further information, please contact:
Tourism Council of Bhutan, India Representative Office
C/o Charson Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd.
1104 Arcadia, 11th Floor, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021 – India
Tel: 91 (22) 65172273; Fax: 91 (22) 22828835; Email: exec.office@charsonadvisory.com
Tourism Council of Bhutan 
Tarayana Centre, Chubachu, Thimphu, Bhutan 
Tel: 975 2 323251/2 ; Email: info@tourism.gov.bt; Web: www.tourism.gov.bt
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Arun Maira, Dullard Speaks About Congress

14052014

May14, 2014

Indian problem is in Selection Process for important positions in
Government of India in itself is defective.

In USA Son of a Company Owner with all the degrees begins his career
by working at starting level cleaning floors and for top jobs
Candidate is expected to provide his Vision and Ideas to boost
technology and performance of the employing company with job
application. Board of Directors also keep an Eye on Talent within and
CEO of the company is always best available. Microsoft appointed Satya
Nadella an India employee replacing Steve Ballmer.

Even before joining employers know the ideas and programs to be
implemented by an American and their performance is regularly
monitored on monthly and quarterly basis. Here in after 10 years in
India Arun Maira caused our Manufacturing & R&D to collapse day by day
at the end of the innings blame Sonia Gandhi for all the problems.

He is 71 years old and unfit for any job when he joined Planning Commission.

Indian manufacturing collapsed switching to Imports and selling under
Indian Foreign brands even as Credit to Industry was up Seven Fold.
Very few of Indian Companies are led by Talented Technocrats. Arun
Maira in ten years couldn’t convince Company Promoters to relax and
let companies be led by Professionals.

By chance Indian Economy as whole performed many times better than in
Indian history – so the problem was in Manufacturing, R&D and
Developing & Selling Innovative Products for Domestic and
International Markets – here India failed as Arun Maira & Sam Pitroda
– both bogus inventors derailed Indian Manufacturing & R&D. India Rank
in Patent Grants improved from 24 to 12 from 1995-2007 that collapsed
to 24 again. He along with Pitroda didn’t resign in face of gross
FAILURE.

When a farmer buys a new Bullet motor cycle for Rs.2 lakh and his son
attaches an agricultural implement to its rear and starts ploughing
his farm everyone would laugh at him. But when CSIR-DSIR, Sam Pitroda,
Arun Maira promote this it becomes National Shame and Tragedy for
1250m people. This weird devise was the Star Attraction of CSIR-DSIR
at most S&T exhibition and this year at Rashtrapati Bhawan Exposition.

Arun Maira was leading Boston Consulting India Operations a decade ago
he Commented, ‘Indians Don’t Patents Because They Have Inventions in
Their Brains –’ it was absolutely shocking and I blogged a Dullard
has come to destroy Indian R&D and Manufacturing. He was made Planning
Commission member in 2009 and later National Innovation Council
member.

Patent Office has collapsed in India in last five years. This year
Controller of Patents was advocating Samosa and Bread Pakora Patent on
2014 Innovation Day.

In the following para first sentence seems to be correct and second
planted to Impress Narendra Modi.

“The meeting had been convened by Mahatma Gandhi to discuss what type
of institutions India would need to create an inclusive and just
society. Among other things, he was concerned about the role of the
Congress Party, which could get corrupted as it began to govern the
country.”

Congress introduced Hindu Code Bill, Nationalized Banks, Abolish
Jamindari, and Invested in PSUs etc to address the Concerns of
Mahatama Gandhi, but it –

    BJP RSS who wanted India to remain ‘Unjust. Unfair and Exploited Society’
    BJP RSS wanted Adani and Ambani to Own & Exploit Natural Resources,
excluding Indian Public from Profits and Share in Wealth Generation.

Sabka Bharat Mission 2019 details what Congress Leaders couldn’t
conclude so far.

Finally Arun Maira released foreign Consultants Study Comparing States
on Ease of Doing Business When –

- India need to Learn from Global Experiences & Absorb Technology.

As per Annual Survey of Industries Salary Paid to Shop Floor Factory
Workers was just Rs. 9,98,557 crores or less than 1% of India GDP.

Ravinder Singh, National General Secretary.
Sabka Bharat Mission 2019
Y-77, Hauz Khas, New Delhi -110016
Ph: 9650421857, 9718280435
Sabkabharatmission2019@gmail.com

Sonia Called the Shots in UPA: Maira
Planning Commission member, Arun Maira, talks about Congress’ dynastic
structure and how the PM is only a figurehead
VIKAS DHOOT NEW DELHI

    Arun Maira, a member of the Planning Commission chaired by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, has backed the charge of his former media
advisor Sanjaya Baru that Singh was a figurehead in the UPA, while
Sonia Gandhi controlled the government’s reins.

“Sonia Gandhi chose not to become Prime minister when she led the
party to a stunning victory in 2004. Instead, she anointed a loyal
technocrat, Dr Manmohan Singh, as the prime minister, while she has
called the shots on all important appointments and policies,” Maira
has written in his new book Redesigning the Aeroplane While Flying:
Reforming Institutions to be released today.

“Now her son, Rahul Gandhi, is being called upon to do his dynastic
duty and lead the Congress party. Unfortunately, many other Indian
political parties have also adopted similar autocratic and dynastic
structures,” Maira wryly noted, tracing the rise in the Congress
party’s centralised approach to its Indira Gandhi days, in the book
published by Rupa Publications.

Making the case that the Congress party has become more centralized
and less democratic since independence, failing the vision for the
party articulated by Mahatma Gandhi before his death in January 1948,
Maira said India remains a relic of the British Raj with its age-old
civil services structure that still works as a ‘command and control’
institution and monarchical political parties like the Congress
replacing the British monarchy.

“With (Indira’s) ascent to power, the party was set towards becoming a
dynasty. Following this, her son, Rajiv Gandhi, became prime minister.
Then her daughter-inlaw, Sonia Gandhi, became the president of the
Congress party,” writes the Plan Panel member whose term in government
will end along with UPA-II.

Interestingly, Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Delhi chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal had admitted to Maira that running a movement or
political party requires a different approach from running a
government, days before he and his government resigned.
Stating that he first met Kejriwal in 2006, when he ran a local NGO
Parivartan, Maira writes that they had then discussed how movements
for changing institutions can be scaled up or ‘spread around’ in the
AAP leader’s words.

“I met Arvind again recently after he was suddenly made the chief
minister of Delhi. He admitted that the structures for managing
movements, political parties and governments are inherently different.
The questions were: How does one build them and how does one change
them?” Maira recalled.

More than sixty years after independence, India’s governance
structures retain elements of the British Raj, Maira points out.
“Civil services designed like iron frames (though rusting rapidly) and
monarchical political parties in place of the British monarchy… The
inability of India’s institutions of governance to change adequately
has resulted in the growing decline of citizens’ trust in them.”

Linking the Congress’ current shape to its inability to change its
role after independence, Maira writes: “India’s principal political
party, the Indian National Congress, which was in the vanguard of the
freedom movement, and for whose redesign (Mahatma) Gandhi had called
the meeting in Sevagram in 1948, has become less democratic and more
centralised since then.” “The meeting had been convened by Mahatma
Gandhi to discuss what type of institutions India would need to create
an inclusive and just society. Among other things, he was concerned
about the role of the Congress Party, which could get corrupted as it
began to govern the country.”

“Unfortunately, he was assassinated on January 30, 1948 before that
meeting,” noted Maira, adding that around 50 participants including
Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and Vinoba Bhave eventually met in
March that year, but couldn’t reach a consensus on Gandhi’s proposal.
Maira, who was earlier the chairman of the Boston Consulting Group in
India and had spent over two decades in the Tata group, was brought
into the Planning Commission in 2009 with a mandate from the PM to
reform the thinktank and convert it into a ‘systems reforms
commission’. At that time, Singh had described the Planning
Commission’s new role, at a time when the states were becoming more
powerful, as an ‘essay in persuasion.’

Arun Maira Building a manufacturing power
India needs to invest in skill development of its labour and maintain
a good industrial relations environment
Sun, May 11 2014
Arun Maira

Thomas Pikkety’ book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, is on top
of bestseller lists and is flying off book-shelves. His thesis,
supported by extensive data, explains how inequalities are on the rise
with labour earnings rising much more slowly than returns to capital.
Other economists have pointed out that value capture in global supply
chains is following a U-shaped curve, which is becoming deeper. Value
capture at the back end of the chain, in product design and patents,
is very high and rising. Incomes at the front end, in branding and
marketing are also high. While incomes for employees in factories that
produce the stuff, and sit in the middle of the chain, are lowest.

The factories, in global supply chains are in low-wage countries,
whereas designing, branding, and marketing is mostly done in richer
countries. Now add a third data point to this global picture.
According to a McKinsey study, shortages of highly skilled workers, at
the front and back ends of supply chains and their wages are
increasing in all countries—the developed ones and the developing ones
too. Whereas there is a glut of unskilled workers and a far lower rise
in their wages in all countries.

Leaving aside moral and political questions of inequality between
capital and labour, there is a practical question. With this global
reality, what will be a winning strategy for India’s manufacturers? A
winning strategy must be based on using more of the resource that is
abundant (and less costly), and less of scarce and more expensive
resources. Napoleon used masses of motivated citizen-soldiers in his
armies to defeat opposing armies of better paid professionals.
Similarly, guerilla warriors can defeat armies with more sophisticated
and expensive weapons. The lesson is: make the most of what you have.

India has the world’s largest pool of young people seeking jobs.
Humans are a trainable resource. Manufacturing enterprises in India
wanting to compete with enterprises in other countries should design
their systems to use more labour and less capital. A manufacturing
enterprise in India that has the ability to improve employee skills
can count on a continuing supply of trainable people, and thus have a
sustainable competitive advantage over enterprises elsewhere.

Economists who wish India well will want manufacturers in India to
employ more people and pay them better too. More employment and more
earnings will give a boost to economic growth. However, this win-win
solution is not being realized because owners of enterprises are
facing problems with employees. Employees do not have the requisite
skills, they say. When employees are dissatisfied they can create
industrial relations problems. Present laws make it difficult for
employers to fire them. Therefore the general response of employers,
with a few notable exceptions, is either, use machines instead of
people if they can afford them (the cost of capital is high in India,
and small and medium enterprises cannot raise it easily). Or, hire
more temporary/contract workers.

Such tactical manoeuvres are diametrically opposed to the strategy
that can make India a globally competitive manufacturing hub. There is
little incentive to train temporary/ contract workers, so skill
development is constrained when India is crying for more skill
development. Moreover, contract workers are paid much less than
others, leading to industrial relations disputes. Thus employers’
relationships with people in their enterprises are becoming fraught.
With this trend, manufacturing may be in a downward spiral, at a time
when, for improvement in competitiveness of India manufacturing
enterprises, people (and more of them) must be at the heart of
enterprises’ strategies.

To build a globally competitive manufacturing sector, India must
expand the scope of its vocational skills programmes. More technically
skilled workers are required, of course. Even more than that perhaps,
entrepreneurs in the garments and other labour-intensive sectors say
they need good supervisors who can manage work and people well.
Productivity improvements and skill development happen on the shop
floor, and good supervisors are critical for these.

Above all, the country needs very good managers who can improve
competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises by managing the interplay
of the many systems that interact to create faster learning
enterprises. These systems include material flows, information flows,
processes for quality and productivity improvement, and very
importantly, the human side of the enterprise. The only “appreciating
asset” in a manufacturing system, whose value can appreciate over
time, are the human assets. Whereas the value of all other
assets—machines, buildings, materials—will depreciate with time.

Motivated employees can improve the productivity of machines too. It
is not surprising that countries such as Germany and Japan, who have
maintained (and even increased) the competitiveness of their
manufacturing sectors, even as wages increased and their currencies
became stronger, have a long-term orientation towards human assets. In
these countries, there is much greater commitment to the continuity of
employees in service. To them, “flexibility” in employment is the
ability of employees, supported by employers to learn new
capabilities, rather than the flexibility of employers to quickly
dispense with employees’ services.

To create 100 million jobs in manufacturing, which India must, (and to
relieve the increasing tension between capital and labour that Pikkety
explains), owners and managers of manufacturing enterprises in India
must treat human beings as their core asset and not a problem to be
avoided.

Arun Maira is a member of the Planning Commission.
Comments are welcome at theirview@livemint.com


 

Look who turned Cheerleader at the Zee 20 Cricket League!

14052014

In a most exciting coup, Zee TV brings together the most sought-after actors from all its primetime shows on a cricket field, splits them into two teams led by Raj (Mishkat Varma) and Samarth (Navi Bhangu), the protagonists of  its show  Pyaar Ho Gaya and makes the two teams battle it out in a nail-biting 20-over match packed with high-voltage drama. The man who wins the match will walk away with the heroine Avani! With half of your favorite Zee stars backing Raj and the other half joining forces with Samarth, wonder who will win the Zee 20 Cricket League and walk away with the girl!?  

Well, if thereâ³ a cricket match, can it possibly be complete without its cheerleaders? So you have the prettiest young girls from across Zee TVâ³ primetime shows Mansi Shrivastav (Shivani of Do Dil Bandhe Ek Dori Se),  Karishma Sharma & Ruhee Bagga (Piya and Pari of Pavitra Rishta), Kinjal Pandya (Shazia of Qubool Hai), Prema Mehta (Payal of  Aur Pyar Ho Gaya), Shirina Singh (Pooki of Ek Muthi Aasman) donning the garb of cheerleaders and rooting for the two teams.

The girls took a lot of interest in selecting their cheerleaders⠯utfits and accessories & getting their steps for their routine right. Mansi Shrivastav who plays the lead in Do Dil Bandhe Ek Dori Se said, 㗥ⶥ all grown up watching English movies and shows where you often see the most beautiful girls in high school going on to become cheerleaders on the football field and romancing the most sought-after football jocks. So, for every pretty girl, itâ³ a fascinating idea to become a cheerleader. Itâ³ been a dream come true to be chosen to play one at the Zee 20 Cricket League. The girls and I had a blast rehearsing our cheerleading routine. I think the rushes are looking awesome and the audiences are in for a glitzy glossy extravaganza of cricket and drama!ä ¦nbsp;

Stay tuned to the Zee 20 Cricket League - a cricket tournament with the tadka of family entertainment on 24thand 25th May at 6:30 PM on Zee TV


 

AAP demands answers on ‘Clean Chit’ to Nitin Gadkari

14052014
The claim being made that the former BJP president Shri Nitin Gadkari has been given a clean chit by the Income Tax Department, is completely false.

It is curious how a convenient RTI asks simplistic questions and gets a prompt reply within days. All that the IT Directorate says in reply to the RTI enquiry is: “There is no inquiry/investigation presently pending in this Directorate against Shri Nitin Gadkari of Nagpur”. Nowhere does this imply that an inquiry was conducted or no, and where there was some evidence has been found.

The facts are that the Income Tax Department had inititiated an inquiry against Purti Group of companies and several related companies, and their promoters. Raids were conducted in multiple cities including Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata to name a few and many companies’ addresses were suspected to be fictitious. Nitin Gadkari had even threatened the officials that they would face dire consequences when he came into power.

It is clear that this simplistic RTI and its prompt response was designed to give Gadkari a clean chit and fool the public. We condemn the collusion of all those who are party to this deception.

As we understand that the work of recording the statements of the directors of these companies is still in progress. Aam Aadmi Party is going to go deeper in the matter and is going to seek answers to some questions from the IT Directorate though detailed RTIs. We hope that the AAP requests too are rewarded with the same alacrity shown to the query regarding inquiries of Shri Gadkari!
Thanks,
AAP Media Cell



 

Tripigator.com, first personalized travel planning engine 

14052014
Tripigator.com, first personalized travel planning engine, launches in partnership with Incredible India
SALIENT FEATURES
• Open just 1 tab instead of
the usual 10. A faster and
easier way to plan Indian
travel itinerary
• Considers more than 30
parameters for designing a
personalized holiday plan
• Realistic plans with live
prices of flight, train, hotel, cab
and bus
• Seamless user experience
and visually appealing user
interface

New Delhi, 5 May, 2014: – Revolutionizing the travel and technology space, Tripigator.com, first and
only instant, travel planning engine, was launched today in Delhi in partnership with Incredible India of
Ministry of Tourism. Tripigator.com instantly generates personalized travel itineraries on fewer inputs
and significantly reduces users’ effort by replacing ten tabs with one tab. The website has been chosen
as the official travel planner by the Ministry of Tourism and will also be available on Incredible India
website.
Tripigator.com is not an online travel agent or a tour operator, but a first-of-its-kind personalized travel
planning service. The website was unveiled by Mr. Parvez Dewan, Secretary Ministry of Tourism, Govt.
of India and its three founders РMukul Garg, Piyush Grover, and Karteek Narumanchi Рprot̩g̩ of
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Tripigator will help both domestic and international travellers in planning their trips seamlessly by asking
basic inputs such as timeline, budget, areas of interest (adventure, romantic, nature etc.) and
destinations of choice. The technology creates a range of travel itineraries in no time and ranks them as
per users experience.
Tripigator offers a seamless user experience and visually appealing user interface, which complements the core technology. Tripigator aggregates the information from all over the web to create structured travel data and applies decision science and remarkable technology to create personalized holiday itineraries with live prices.
It not only creates personalized itineraries but also helps users to share it with their travel companions, enabling them to collaborate on their travel plan. During the launch, Mr. Parvez Dewan, Secretary Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India said, “We are happy to partner with Worth Your Holidays and compliment the young team on introducing this innovative technology Tripigator. With the introduction of this technology travelling to and within India will become easier to plan. We hope that the process will be more enjoyable for all tourists, from within the country and abroad.

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