IIM-A's confluence kicks off Friday, November 30, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad's (IIM-A) annual international business school meet, Confluence-2001 was inaugurated by the French Ambassador to India Bernard de Montferrand on Thursday evening.
The three-day meet will see management students from the leading business schools both in the country and abroad to interact with leaders from corporate India. There will be discussions, paper presentations and lectures apart from a quiz and a host of other events.
Delivering the keynote address, Montferrand spoke about the changing pattern of the socio-political world order after the terrorist attacks on the US after September 11. He said that the world was seeing unprecedented solidarity among several democratic countries from across the world to counter terrorism. This solidarity needs to be transformed for an overall development he felt. Montferrand also cautioned against "hasty generalisations" and a feeling of neglect of few countries should be contained, in order to make globalisation successful.
Former RBI governor and the chairman of the board of governors of the IIM-A, I G Patel called on the future managers to balance profit against social responsibility, and personal fulfilment against corporate success. He said that the real art of management lies in integrating the existing contradictions in a beneficial way.
The meet will cover areas like strategy, marketing, finance and information technology. The London School of Business, Asian Institute of Technology, Asian Institute of Management, National University of Singapore and the International University of Japan are among the other foreign business schools that are participating in the event. Besides, Indian Institutes of Management, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, XLRI and XIM are also scheduled to take part at the meet.
Senior personnel from the Tata group, McKinsey Consulting, Ranbaxy Labs and i2 Technologies are also participating in the event. Former managing director of Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) JJ Irani, will also be coming to the Institute fore the event.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Samras coming unstuck; steady stream of nominations Friday, November 30, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
CHIEF Minister Narendra Modi's popular slogan of Samras is yet to make an impact on the panchayat elections scheduled for December 23.
With nominations for polls to continue till December 3 and withdrawals to take place till December 6, a mid-session assessment in talukas located near Gujarat's four major cities shows the lucrative incentives for villages that avoid elections and co-opt their members may not be just enough for people to forego their right to contest and vote.
Daskroi taluka (Ahmedabad): Villagers are convinced that Samras is a great scheme, and will probably make their village richer by a few thousands, but fight for power they will. "Who would want the village to become a fiefdom of a single individual?" says one official.
The stakes are higher if the panchayat is located in an urban suburb like Thaltej, Bodakdev or Vastrapur which show a lot of promise for development. Of these three, Thaltej and Bodakdev have already been declared sensitive from the law and order perspective. "It is not just the MLAs but even builders and developers who have stakes in these areas," says a source from the collectorate. "There is no chance of Thaltej becoming a Samras village. And no village near a growing city will be interested because there is lot of political activity here," says one Thaltej resident Jitubhai Patel. He says the scheme is good and the common villager is upbeat about it, but those keen on politics will fight the elections. Of the 86 villages under Daskroi taluka going to the polls, nominations for sarpanch and members of the gram panchayat have been filed from 46 villages.
Padra taluka (Vadodara): Samras seems to have found few takers here. A majority of villages in the taluka are likely to go in for polls despite the sops offered by the state government. If the initial trends and the mood in the district is anything to go by, only about six of the 27 villages scheduled to go in for polls may unanimously select their representatives. The mamlatdar office has been witnessing a steady stream of candidates. As many as 14 persons filed candidature for the post of sarpanches in various villages of the taluka till Thursday morning. Also, 45 nominations were received for elections to the post of members of village panchayats.
Even local BJP leaders admit that only about eight to 10 panchayats would accept Samras. "We are trying our best to arrive at consensus to avoid political rivalries," said president of BJP's Padra unit, Khumansinh Padhiar. However, said a former sarpanch having Congress leanings, Arvind Patel: "I will have to throw my hat in to hold our people in the village together. The Samras concept is not practical considering the political dynamics of large villages. It might work only in very small villages."
Kotdasanghani taluka (Rajkot): Out of the 41 gram panchayats, so far just four villages have agreed to the Samras scheme. Efforts are being made to net in some more gram panchayats. During the last elections in 1995, as many as 26 gram panchayats of the 41 panchayats had opted for Samras. Most villages were divided as to whether to go in for the scheme or elections. While the older generation was keen on Samras, the younger generation which wants to come up the political ladder were keen for elections. "It is this tricky situation which would force most of the villages to go in for elections," observed Narendrasinh Jadeja, a school teacher. Most of the people said the prize amount of Rs 60,000 was too small. "One cannot even construct a classroom from the much money," said Babubhai Savaliya, a Congress leader.
An octogenarian BJP worker Shamaldasbhai Rabari said: "Though he (Narendra Modi) is from my party, I must tell him to accept the peoples' verdict and try to improve upon it rather than run away from the results."
Olpad taluka (Surat): The total nominations for contesting elections for the post of sarpanch submitted were 61, whereas 153 papers for the post of various wards members were received here. The taluka has 94 gram panchayats.
"In most of the cases, consultations were being held to co-opt the candidates unanimously," said Girishbhai Kanubhai Patel, head of BJP unit at Kim village. He said villages having population in the range of 300 to 1,000 might go in for unanimity, but those having a population of over 1,000 will want elections. The BJP does not have a strong presence here, and the party is worried about giving the panchayats on a platter to Congressmen. There is likelihood of the BJP itself forcing contests in some villages to get a foothold.
(Inputs by Leena Misra, Sachin Sharma, Amarendra Jha and Sudhir Vyas)
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Now, Jaspal trains gun on Modi Friday, November 30, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR: Former minister Jaspal Singh once again set the BJP aflutter at the party legislators meeting on Tuesday when he virtually gave a lesson in leadership to Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He said the mood in the BJP was despondent, and it did not seem Modi's advent had made any difference to the party workers' morale in the run-up to the elections.
Jaspal's outburst began from the word go as the meeting took off in the Vidhan Sabha hall. He told some non-MLAs present at the venue to leave the room. While four of them _ believed to be BJP and RSS workers _ left, one man stayed back. All this happened prior to Modi's arrival. Once the chief minister came, Jaspal again raised the issue, and Modi asked the lone non-MLA to leave the spot.
MLAs had an inkling of Jaspal's mood even before the meeting began, for on seeing their long faces Singh remarked that he felt he had come for a 'besna' and not for the meeting of a party which had to grapple with elections. The first to speak was parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Mehta who felt such meetings could be held more often.
Modi was addressing MLAs for the first time after assuming office. He said he was new to the job and was still learning. He did not spare his close colleagues, saying "a lot of people come and tell me about things happening in the state, but I am not sure if they are giving me the correct feedback".
As the audience was told to proceed for dinner, Jaspal rose up and grabbed the mike before anybody could stop him. As every one listened quietly, Jaspal lamented that many MLAs who perceived the BJP was heading for a huge defeat in the Assembly elections were afraid to admit the truth.
"While every MLA aspires to become a minister, obviously not everyone can be accommodated in the Cabinet. However, there are certain persons with a criminal record in this ministry. People, however, would not understand your compulsions."
Upset over his own exclusion from the Cabinet, he said the chief minister should have chosen deserving people. He cited Henry Ford's biography to explain how an illiterate man could make such a huge fortune. He quoted Ford as saying: "I may not be educated, but I knew where to get qualified people from to run the organisation." Jaspal said a similar effort was expected from the new chief minister who says he had no administrative experience.
There was cheer in the Keshubhai camp when Jaspal said the change in guard had made no difference to the BJP workers' morale. "Today we have a situation where party workers say they are not consulted by the organisation, the organisational leaders say the MLAs are not doing what is expected of them, the MLAs say the ministers do not listen to them," he went on.
Jaspal recalled he had been accused of leaking out things to the Press after Cabinet meetings. Though he was not in the Cabinet, things were still leaking out, he said, and wished that the CM would reprimand his ministers. He was using this forum to express his views freely because he felt others were afraid to speak up because of fear of reprisal. Such meetings should be held every month till elections, he added.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
AMC plans to shift Pirana sewage plant Friday, November 30, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: The National River Conservation Project-funded sewage treatment plant (STP) of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation may be shifted from Pirana.
Citing growing protests against it, the standing committee on Thursday proposed that the site of the Rs 27 crore-project be shifted by three to four km, away from human settlement.
While commissioner P Panneervel has promised to look into the proposal each km of relocation will cost the AMC Rs 3 crore extra.
"Since the STP will also handle sewage generated in AUDA areas the extra cost can be jointly borne by the two organisations. As the project is fully funded by the Centre, the proposal for calling of tenders had to be passed on Thursday. But efforts will be made to see to it that the masses are not inconvenienced. Though the new STP will use UASB technology and will not have any foul smell, the Congress would like to respect the people's wishes," said chairman of the committee Badruddin Sheikh.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
More trouble on BJ campus Friday, November 30, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: The police cracked down on rioting students at B J Medical College on Tuesday night and registered a case of attempt to murder against seven of them.
The action was initiated after four students were severely beaten up and had to be hospitalised. One of them, Ashish Gamit, received serious head injuries and was brought to Civil Hospital profusely bleeding. All of them belong to the B block of the college hostel.
Acting police commissioner M K Tandon told 'The Times of India' on Wednesday that the strong action was initiated to bring the violence under control.
The seven students who have been booked under Section 307 of the IPC are, Ashutosh Jumar, Ranjan Chawala, Piyush Jain, Amardeep Bhatia, Tejas Hathani, Bhowmik Shah, Siraj Munshi and Siddharth Shah.
The new measures, however, failed to prevent more violence on Wednesday afternoon when about 10 students attacked their college mates belonging to the rival group, resulting in yet another head injury to one of the students.
The latest attack was allegedly in retaliation to Tuesday night's assault and took place in the presence of police personnel who were escorting the boys from the police station to the hospital for a preliminary check-up.
For the first time, college dean K V Bhatt broke his silence and said he is worried about the escalating violence, especially since the four students were beaten up outside the college campus. "If the violence continues like this, we don't want to have hostels at all. I would not have been sitting in this office had something untoward happened to the students."
Bhatt has written to the state health secretary seeking permission to shut down the four hostels which have turned battlegrounds. The college authorities have been threatening to shut down the hostel ever since the students went on strike on November 6.
They claim that Tuesday night's violence took place after some B block students went to the mess in D block for dinner. They were allegedly surrounded and thrashed. D block students, however, claim that the violence was initiated by the opposite group.
Students in the A block revealed that the college authorities had not taken half the measures they had promised, to try and curb the violence. "Where are the Gujarat Industrial Security Force personnel they had said they would employ? We have seen none of them." The college authorities had sought approval from the state government for at least 20 security personnel when the violence began. The A block students also alleged that their block had been sealed off by the police not allowing the inmates to go out. Those who were left outside the block were beaing beaten both by students of the B block and the police, they alleged.
Some of the students have even summoned their parents to the campus to pressure the authorities whom, they claim, are not listening to them.
If the parents do join the students, the situation will go back to square one when, at the beginning on the month, they had joined their wards in a hunger strike. A truce was arrived at, following the intervention of health minister Ashok Bhatt, just a day before the Diwali break. After the holidays, there were some sporadic incidents where the college authorities had locked the hostel rooms late in the night if the students were not in by then.
Meanwhile, the brighter students of the college are starting to complain about negligible academic activity in the last 30-odd days. As one of them put it, "I have put all my 25 years in reaching here. I can't forget the effort of all these years just because some of my college mates don't like each other. But there is nothing I can do. I feel completely helpless."
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
