IndiaSpin

MoD Against Army Chief's Age Conflict: A Solution and Opportunity, Not Adrenaline Fueled Tunnel Vision, and Media Grandstanding

2012-01-18T14:43:00.000+05:30

The prudent must guard against tunnel vision, adrenaline fueled exuberance, and media grandstanding.

If the Congress led UPA wants to unfuck the explosive situation of its being dragged to the Supreme Court by its own Army Chief, with the possibility of certain strictures and more embarrassment once the issue is taken up by the Supreme Court of India. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence should rise to the occasion, and swiftly move from the tunnel vision and adrenaline soaked media grandstanding, to an openly declared and enforced reconciliation.

The hard and easy solution to this imbroglio, is to sit down with the Army Chief,
General V. K. Singh, and find an amicable solution to this crisis of confidence and a breakdown in communication between the military, and the politico-bureaucrat complex that runs India's security.

They must work for the larger good of India, and assure the Army Chief regarding any doubts to his integrity and honour.

The MoD motivated leaks that have poisoned the optics should cease. The media will continue to have a field day for a while and then move to the next big thing, leaving debris of India's pride, hubris, innumerable vanities of politicians, top service officers and MoD bureaucrats, besides creating a security risk for the nation.

This inglorious chapter in India's military and civil relationship should be closed, lessons learnt, differences papered over, as there will be no winners in this fight.

The emotional 'Age' issue should be rectified forthwith. If the Chief of Army staff, wishes to retire gracefully or serve his full term, both options should be offered to him, and due amends made.

MoD top bureaucrats responsible for the mess, poor advice should be quietly removed or presented with an ignominious fait accompli of action for motivated media leaks under Official Secrets Act.

This incident and the last few years of scandals, Adarsh and beyond should be turned into an opportunity to fashion a better establishment, modern, robust and professional to take India into its new role as a regional power, confident, effective and able to support India's economic transformation.

The opportunity to transform the MoD has a simple prescription; everyone knows what needs to be done, given the political will.

It should be reorganized into a true integrated body as mandated after Kargil with appropriate interface, both with the PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, provided to professional Armed Forces, as well as skill and need based access provided by appointing uniformed officers at the Jt. Secretary level and above in the MoD, besides civilian bureaucrats and financial controllers, at an equal standing. .

Procurement and Defence production have to become need facing from a current self-serving and nontransparent maze of bureaucracy, plagued with obsolescence, a lack of contemporary technology and research, and unable to fulfill the needs of India's Armed Forces, on functionality or on time, creating delay, resentment and dysfunction.

India faces twin challenges at its borders and numerous insurgencies, those are more deserving of a fight, it is in fact the right fight to fight.

Let us hope reasons prevails over emotion, and the larger objective is chosen over egos, the Republic is waiting.

Sublime Chaos of Cities - Exhibition of photographs by Mala Mukerjee, Smita Barooah Sanyal and Chandan Dubey

2012-01-09T17:26:00.000+05:30

The Sublime Chaos of Cities

Cities, reaching back to the dawn of human memory.

Cities-changing, metamorphosing and evolving over time.

Conurbations of hope desire, faith and aspiration. Chaotic and frenzied. Evidenced in congested streets, colorful bazaars, shiny skyscrapers, slums, decay and regeneration- Layer upon layer of complex structures and substructures adding up to what we call urban.

In Sublime Chaos of Cities photographers, Mala Mukerjee, Smita Barooah Sanyal and Chandan Dubey, interpret the chaos from cities around the world. Their images are studies of complex, ever changing realities of living cities - chaotic systems rife with visual noise.

The haphazard nature of the non-western city is often disparaged as a failed, incompetent construct out of tune with the times.

Yet many of us thrive in the chaos. Everyday more people demand their place in it. What is this strange attraction?

Perhaps the city is no artificial construct but a mere reflection of the chaos of the universe – a microcosm that reflects our natural being.

The city is a complex beast, often confounding its experts- the architects, planners, urbanists- and its dwellers alike. The 20th century understanding of the urban was synonymous with well-regulated and structured sprawls amenable to deconstruction and easy illustration. However, in reality, cities have little to do with such linear, simplistic models.

Just look around and see – it's the chaotic, the unpredictable, the chance meeting that gives the city its life, vibrancy and addictive pulse. Its something that 21st century urbanists have finally grown to appreciate.

Why do apparently chaotic urban systems attract people in large numbers? In the “Sublime Chaos of cities”, the three photographers explore the idea of the city, its organic, ever-changing nature and the chaos that lies at the heart of cities they love.

THE ARTISTS:

MALA MUKERJEE

Birds

Mumbai Roulette

Daydreaming

Clothesline

Mala launched her professional career in 1986. Her work has appeared in India in many publications such as Swagat, Desh, Discover India, Frontline, Insight Guide, Indian Express, Inner Eye, Namaste, Sananda, Signature, Sportstar, Times of India etc., and also abroad in the BBC Bulletin, The Cricketer and the India Weekly Journal in London ; in ‘Close Up’ sports magazine in Australia and in tourist guide titled ‘Indien’ in Germany. The cover page of the American novelist S.H. Fracis’ work titled ‘A ticket to Minto’ has one of her photographs on it.

She taught PhotOgraphy at The School, KFI, Chennai during 1986/1989. In 1990 she completed a four year Certificate and Diploma Course in Applied Art and Design Studies at the London Guildhall University. She was awarded the Art Prize by the Owen Rowley Art Foundation in London in 1993. She was among the prize winners in ‘Our Big City’ competition organized jointly by the Evening Standard Newspaper Group and Carlton TV in London in October 1993. In 1994 she was nominated for the Leopold Godowsky Jr. color photography Awards of the Photographic Resource Centre, Boston. In January 2007, The Academy of Visual Media, New Delhi, awarded Mala their “Achievement Award” for outstanding contribution to Photography.

In 2002 BLINK, a publication by the Phaidon Press, London, featured her among 100 contemporary Photographers of the world. She has conducted Workshops on Color Photography at Dhaka and Sylhet in 2003 at the invitation of Drik, Bangladesh. In 2006 Mala visited China at the invitation of the Peoples’ Republic of China to participate in a photo event titled “Xinjiang in the eyes of Chinese and Foreign photographers” and again in 2011 to attend the inaugural exhibition of the China International Photographic Gallery alliance in Lishui. She is a member of The International Alliance of Photo Galleries.

Mala has held Solo exhibitions at : Cottons Centre London 1991&1992, St.Giles Church Oxford 1993, Sakshi Gallery Bangalore 1994, Y.B.Chavan Art Gallery Mumbai 1995, B.C.D. Gallery-Mumbai 1995, Sakshi Gallery Chennai 1995, Birla Academy Art Gallery Kolkata 1995, Nehru Centre Art Gallery Mumbai 1995, The Piramal Gallery Mumbai 1996, Lalit Kala Akademi New Delhi 1997, IIC Gallery New Delhi 1998, Lalit Kala Akademi Chennai 1999, Nehru Centre Art Gallery Mumbai 1999, La galerie de l’Alliance Française de Dhaka – Bangladesh 2000, Birla Academy Art Gallery Kolkata 2001, Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata, Gallerie Zen Bangalore 2002, Nandan Gallery Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan 2002, Academy of Fine arts Kolkata 2004, Gorky Sadan- Kolkata 2004, Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata 2006, IIC Gallery New Delhi 2006, Apparao Infinity Gallery New Delhi 2007, Akar Prakar Gallery Kolkata 2007, Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata 2007, Nehru Centre Art Gallery Mumbai in 2008, Nandan Gallery Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan 2008 and Academy of Fine Art-Kolkata 2008.

Apart from several Group Shows in London during 1991/1993, Mala took part in “Women ’96”, an Art Front Group show at the Jehangir Art Gallery Mumbai and in Group exhibitions at the Nehru Centre Art Gallery Mumbai 1997, Y.B. Chavan Art Gallery Mumbai 1998, Academy of Fine Arts Calcutta 2001, Guildhall University London 2001, Cancer Foundation exhibition at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata 2005, ‘Kolkata Festival’ of Times of India at Town Hall Kolkata 2006, AVM Photography Award 2006 at the AIFACS, New Delhi and in exhibitions organized by the Chinese Embassy in 2007 at the Birla Academy Art Gallery, Kolkata, & Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, in “The Four Seasons in Xinjiang Photo Exhibition” organised by The Chinese Photographic Association in Beijing in March 2007 , Birla Academy Art Gallery in April 2009, ‘Urban India through the lens” at Habitat Centre in Sept 2009, International Artists Exhibition, Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2010, the 44th Annual Exhibition at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata in January 2011, International exhibition titled ‘One Nest’ at Birla Academy of Art and Culture in October 2011 which she also organized and curated, and at the Photography Museum of China at Lishui in November 2011.

Her work has been acquired by many Institutional collectors such as : Alliance Française de Dhaka, Archives of Centre For Photography As An Art Form at NCPA Mumbai, Archives of Metropolitan University London, India International Centre, New Delhi, JBNSTS, Kolkata and by Corporate bodies such as ABN Amro Bank Mumbai, Alliance Capital Inc, New York, Apcon Ltd Chennai, Carborandum Universal, Chennai, Delhi Development Authority, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, ICI Ltd Mumbai, ICICI Bank, Indian Oil Corpn. Kolkata, Office of the C & A.G New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs New Delhi, Quality Audit & Services, Kolkata, Standard Chartered Bank Mumbai and Wooltop Weaves Pte Ltd., Chennai.

Her work is presently on display at www.malaphotogallery.com

E.mail: malamukerjee@gmail.com
‘DEBI’ Apts, 4th Flr, 487 Keyatala Road, Kolkata 700029
Mobile :+91 9831160419
Tele: 033 24632207/24642908/24631918
http://www.malamukerjee.com/

Smita Barooah Sanyal

The Aftermath 1

Smita is a fine arts photographer and writer. In her past avatar, she was a Public Relations Consultant for Lintas, Mumbai. She left it to follow her passions.

She has exhibited her work in some of Asia’s most prestigious galleries including Sunjin Galleries (Singapore), Art Mosaic at the Ministry of Culture (MICA, Singapore), The Fringe Club Fotogallerie (Hongkong), Tullika Arts (Mumbai), the Birla Academy (Kolkata) and The Experimental Arts Gallery (IHC, Delhi).

Jodhpur Blues

Her first book was published by Roli in 2007 and her second book on the problems of addiction is due to be published soon. She has spent many years working with recovering addicts in Singapore.

Smita has a BA and a MA from Delhi University (Lady Shri Ram College) and a Specialist Diploma in Counseling from ACC Singapore.

The Chaos Outside

She currently lives and works in Singapore where she looks for color and chaos amidst the order. She moved there from the boom-town of Gurgaon, which was a vantage point to focus on beautiful elements isolated out of the visual chaos of a country in rapid transition.

Exhibitions

“Portals” February/March 2004-solo exhibition at Sunjin Galleries, Singapore

Parking in Philadelphia

“Portals” March 2005- joint exhibition with photographer Chandan Dubey, Fringe Club Fotogalerie, Hong Kong
“Portals” November 2005-solo exhibition at Tullika Art Gallery, Mumbai
“Transience” January 2006- group exhibition, Fourth Floor Gallery, Mumbai
Group exhibition in May 2007 organised by INTACH , Delhi
‘Emerging Talent” July 2007-group exhibition at Sunjin Galleries, Singapore
“Frozen in Time” March 2008-joint exhibition with photographer Sam Kumar at Art Mosaic Gallery at Ministry of Information, Communication & The Arts, Singapore
“Mundane” April 2009- joint exhibition with Mala Mukerjee and Suporno Banerjee at Birla Academy of Arts and Culture, Kolkata
“Card-o-logy” September 2009- group exhibition at Hacienda Gallery, Mumbai
“Urban India Through The Lens” September 2009- joint exhibition with Mala Mukerjee and Chandan Dubey at India Habitat Centre, Delhi (as part of the Urban Habitats Summit 2009
“Mundane” March 2010- solo exhibition at The Experimental Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Delhi

Other works

Series “Women at work” featured in New Internationalist Magazine.
Book covers for Penguin (India) and World Scientific (Singapore).
Workshop for Make-A-Wish-Foundation, Singapore.
Photography workshop and contest for Deutsche Bank, Singapore.
Official photographer for Rituchakra and Dew Essence, Singapore.

Email : smitabs@yahoo.com
#01-12, Livonia, Costa Rhu
Singapore-437436
Telephone: +65-96345879/ 6009769

Chandan Dubey

Deconsecrate

Chandan is a photographer, art curator and writer. She has been photographing people, places, and objects for over fifteen years. Most photography she knows is self-taught. Her recent work follows from a year -long project focusing on urban growth and housing.

She started her career as a journalist with the Times of India Group in 1997. She has worked with the The Asian Age and Indian Express Group subsequently. She has been freelancing for a variety of national and international publications since 2000.

Entropy

Chandan has exhibited in galleries in Hong Kong and India. Her work has been published in national publications such as India Today, Economic Times and Mid Day, as well as international publications such as Art Asia Pacific, the South China Morning Post and Time out Hong Kong.

Meshed Apart

She has collaborated with established artists and photographers from India and Hong Kong for exhibitions and travel projects.

Chandan has an MA in Economics from the Banaras Hindu University, a Mass Communications Diploma from the SNDT University Mumbai and a Professional certification in Art Curatorship and Art History from the Hong Kong Art School (2008).

Central Market, Hongkong

Originally from Varanasi, Chandan moved back to Mumbai recently after spending ten years in Singapore and Hong Kong. Lines, textures and form of urban architecture motivate her work. Urban sprawl and developmental issues therein are very close to her heart.

Exhibitions

“Urban India Through The Lens” September 2009- joint exhibition with Mala Mukerjee and Smita Barooah Sanyal at India Habitat Centre, Delhi (as part of the Urban Habitats Summit 2009).
Desi- an object based community project dealing with issues of migration and identity, at the Hong Kong Art School – May 2008
“Blue” , Travel photography exhibition at Chiu’s Gallery, Hong Kong – July 2005-Dec 2005.
“Portals” March 2005- joint exhibition at, Fringe Club Fotogalerie, Hong Kong.
“Indochina diary”, a photo essay on Buddhist iconography at Meli Melo Arts Foundation, Hong Kong in 2002.

Email: chandandubey08@gmail.com
405, Samudra Mahal
Dr. Annie Besant Road
Worli
Mumbai -18
Tel- +852 97452750/ 25408660

IABC Lighthouse, Taj President, Bombay

2012-01-03T14:51:00.000+05:30

IABC Western India Chapter: The Communication Lighthouse

2011-11-24T00:22:00.001+05:30

IABC Western India Chapter presents: The Communication Lighthouse

Please share with your colleagues in PR, Social Media, Communications and Marketing.

Information Warfare in Kashmir, PMO, MEA, MoD and MHA all Asleep on the Watch!

2011-10-03T22:07:00.000+05:30

Even after Fai, propaganda against India continues, through others Pakistani proxies like Basharat Peer, and several other such ISI plug manufacturers in the Kashmiri media, and even Kashmir correspondents for all mainline television and print publications. Indian copy cat liberals hardly realize as they are led down the garden (ISI) path in their misdirected fervour.

Majority of allegations of rape, murder and even this mass grave chimera remain platforms to incite rebellion and uprising among the emotional youth already hardwired to accept this bullshit as the gospel truth.

Strangely, the MEA and the MoD, as well as the rather chirpy press release intense MHA have all remained inexplicably quiet, as this lie is repeated often enough, so it starts feeling true.

There is a motivated, funded effort to somehow get Kashmir on the boil again, unfortunately the people who are supposed to watch and take care of things such, are again asleep on the watch.

Indian Army Gallantry Award Winners - 15th August 2011

2011-08-15T20:59:00.000+05:30

Indian Army Gallantry Award Winners - 15th August 2011

SHAURYA CHAKRA
IC-66865M MAJOR ABHISHEK CHAKRABARTY
1. Major Abhishek Chakrabarty planned, executed and personally led an operation on 07-08 February 2011 in a village in Ramban District of Jammu & Kashmir resulting in killing of three hardcore terrorists, with no casualty to own troops and no collateral damage. Two terrorists were killed personally by the officer. Maj Chakrabarty got intelligence on 07 February 2011 at 2100 hours of presence of three hardcore terrorists in a hideout. Officer swung into action, with his team of six soldiers and cordoned the area by 0030 hours on 08 February 2011. At 0755 hours, the officer with his buddy moved towards the hideout, where he was fired upon by the terrorists. Undeterred, the officer fired back and killed one terrorist from a dangerously close range. By 1300 hours, second terrorist was eliminated by his team. After seven hours of fire-fight, the officer burnt the bushes near the hideout using Molotov Cocktail. He then personally led a party of three Other Ranks, to the roof of the hideout, lobbed a grenade and a rammer charge inside the hideout and fired with his AK-47, killing the third terrorist.

IC-67860A MAJOR S KARTIK RAJA

2. On prolonged cultivation of intelligence and covert surveillance a real time information was received on 13 May 2010, by Major S Kartik Raja about the movement of 08-10 armed terrorists in general area in a village in Thoubal District of Manipur. Taking advantage of the inclement weather conditions, multiple teams were sent to the site to seek contact. At around 0025 hours on 14 May 2010 one team came under indiscriminate firing. Major S Kartik Raja displaying aggressive spirit swiftly led his team to the place of contact while tactically readjusting the other teams. On reaching the site, he saw 08-10 terrorists running, who on being challenged replied by indiscriminate fire on the officer and his team. The officer displaying nerves of steel replied back with retaliatory fire and with utter disregard to his personal safety, he and his buddy gave a hot pursuit to the fleeing terrorists through the difficult hilly jungle terrain as they ran and rolled down the nearby hillock and closed in on terrorists, who were entrenched behind a boulder and firing from their automatics and lobbing grenades. The officer manoeuvred himself to a tactical position and displaying, marksmanship skills, single handedly eliminated two terrorists under illumination. The officer amidst a hail of bullets then closed in onto another entrenched terrorist and gunned him down from close quarters. Thereafter, the officer displaying tactical clarity far beyond his service manoeuvred his team into a tight cordon and plugged in the escape routes. This tactical move resulted in elimination of two more terrorists and the daring operation resulted in elimination of five hardcore terrorists and recovery of a huge quantity of warlike stores and incriminating documents.

SS-41822 MAJOR DUSHYANT SINGH SHEKHAWAT

3. On 30 September 2010, at 0900 hours on receiving information about terrorists, Major Shekhawat led a search party in a village in Kupwara District of Jammu & Kashmir. On 01 October 2010 at 1030 hours Major Shekhawat’s party came under heavy fire of terrorists. Major Shekhawat showing raw courage closed towards a terrorist and eliminated him in a close quarter battle. At 1110 hours Captain Sudheer was wounded. Major Shekhawat and Lance Naik Raghbir, undeterred by overwhelming fire, extricated Captain Sudheer, however themselves came under fire of terrorists and one terrorist was eliminated by Captain Sudheer in a daring action. Major Shekhawat closed towards the other terrorist under effective covering fire by Naib Subedar Madan and Lance Naik Raghbir and eliminated him in fierce combat lasting twenty minutes. On 02 October 2010 at 1000 hours intense fire fight resumed with terrorist hiding in a cave. Major Shekhawat crawled and reached on top of the cave with Lance Naik Raghbir under accurate covering fire by Naib Subedar Madan. Major Shekhawat lobbed a grenade inside cave and his buddy shot the terrorist by jumping right in front.

IC-69025 CAPTAIN SAURABH DHAMIJA

4. On 16 September 2010, Captain Saurabh Dhamija while leading his troop as scout number 02 on search and destroy mission in general area in Pulwama District of Jammu and Kashmir, found himself face to face with three armed terrorists. Showing extreme presence of mind, the officer challenged the terrorists to surrender. During the firefight he fired from his hip and eliminated one terrorist. The other terrorists then hid behind a boulder. While trying to outflank them, the officer came under heavy automatic fire from a nearby height. Not loosing his nerves under fire, he redeployed his squads. Realising the proximity of own troops after redeployment, Capt Saurabh realized engaging the terrorist would have resulted in injury to own troops, he crawled up the boulder, when his weapon misfired. Displaying raw courage the officer grappled with the terrorist and snatched his weapon and eliminated him. The third terrorist tried to break contact and flee. The officer using the slain terrorist’s weapon injured the fleeing militant, who was later neutralised.

IC-72578 LIEUTENANT ABHINAV TRIPATHI

5. On 15 October 2010 at 1900 hours, acting on information about presence of terrorists in a village in Kokrajhar District of Assam, a search team was launched under Major TN Unnikrishnan. Meanwhile, information of suspects in two other villages nearby was received. Grabbing the opportunity, the search party was instantly dispersed into three small parties to lay ambushes in the suspected areas. Lieutenant Abhinav Tripathi was incharge of one of the ambush party. On reaching the site at approx 2100 hours on 15 Oct 2010, Lieutenant Abhinav Tripathi quickly appreciated the ground, briefed his party and laid the ambush. At about 2230 hours, two persons approached the site on a motor cycle. They were completely surprised when they were challenged by the stops. Impulsively, they accelerated the motorcycle and also started spraying bullets in the direction of the stops. Lieutenant Abinav Tripathi retaliated by firing quick shots, which injured the driver fatally and the motorcycle fell down. The pillion rider sprinted towards the bamboo grove along the road, firing indiscriminately in all directions to break contact. Without getting unnerved under hostile fire, Lieutenant Abhinav Tripathi moved to outflank the fleeing terrorist and engaged him in close quarter combat killing him with a burst from his weapon. Lieutenant Abhinav Tripathi, executed a successful operation, resulting in the elimination of two hardcore terrorists with arms and ammunition. One of the terrorists was later identified to be a Self Styled Sergeant of a terrorist organisation, resulting in a major blow to the outfit.

15347880 SAPPER AMARJIT SINGH (POSTHUMOUS)

6. On 05 April 2011, Sapper Amarjit Singh as part of the house clearing team at a village in Pulwama District of Jammu & Kashmir was clearing a suspected hide lodging a terrorist. The terrorist hiding behind the mirror opened fire. The team commander pinned him down and ordered his teammates to clear out. Sapper Amarjit Singh, gauging the gravity of the situation, disregarding his own safety engaged the terrorist with effective fire to facilitate the team’s move to safety. In the ensuing fire fight, he daringly inflicted grievous injuries to the terrorist and continued engaging him at point blank range thereby enabling safe movement of his teammates. In the process he sustained previous gun shot wounds to his face and succumbed to his injuries. The previous injuries inflicted on the terrorist resulted in the death and elimination of a dreaded Divisional Commander of a terrorist outfit. Sapper Amarjit Singh displayed unflinching devotion to duty and indomitable courage and made the supreme sacrifice in the service of the Nation.

13626415 PARATROOPER PADAM BAHADUR POUDEL

7. Paratrooper Padam Bahadur was a member of Captain Tapas Deka’s squad. On 03 October 2010 during an Hostage Rescue Operation in East Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh, Captain Tapas moved for sentry silencing under the cover provided by Paratrooper Padam Bahadur. As the officer eliminated the sentry and secured the hostage, he came under heavy fire from two terrorists who were near sentry position. Paratrooper Padam acted quickly came out in open and engaged the terrorists from a flank. His brave act surprised the terrorists and drew their attention away from Captain Deka and hostage. Taking advantage of confusion in the terrorist ranks, displaying high marksmanship skills, he killed two terrorists in quick succession.

http://pib.nic.in/archieve/others/2011/aug/d2011081403.pdf

Anatomy of a Slur: Reputation of Indian Army Gang Raped in Kashmir by Gullible Indian Media

2011-07-23T00:36:00.003+05:30

Clearly the media here has learnt no lessons with the Fai episode. It remains gullible at best and an unwary and willing ally to anti-India forces at its worst.

The preliminary medical report issued by assistant surgeon, District Hospital, Kulgam, who examined the victim, Rukaya Banoo wife of Mohammad Latief Bhat resident of Manzgam Gujardhar in Kulgam district stated that, the woman had no marks of violence or resistance on any part of the body, including her private parts.

The Kulwama "rape' story developed fast, it was pushed along by herd mentality, running stories without confirming facts is doing a lot of damage to India's stabilization of Kashmir.

Allegations of rape in the past have proven false, baseless and often motivated by separatist elements in the valley run from across the border in Pakistan by its intelligence agency, the illustrious ISI, on behalf of the Pakistani Army.

The Chief Minister of the State known to often get into trouble by shooting his mouth off decided to add fat to the fire with his ill-considered statement, "...the guilty won't be spared either Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) or no AFSPA".

Will Omar Abdullah apologize to the Indian Army when this is proven bullshit as many other such motivated allegations before it have too? The Indian Army is in Kashmir at the invitation of the government and ironically guarantees this ungrateful man's personal freedom and well being, besides being a bulwark of stability, and order. What would provoke a man to abuse this freedom in such a callous manner?

While one can understand that the local Kashmir media is biased, do editors sitting in Delhi have no independent thought or balance? MHA, MoD should have been first responders to the media, yet they sat on their hands till the story went viral, being repeated often enough, started sounding like the truth.

A quick investigation how the story developed will lay bare the threads of how many people were on the gravy train, including stringers and point persons of various print and broadcast media shops who are both lazy and incompetent.

Statements of the Army by General Officer Commanding of the Army's 15 Corps, Lt General Syed Atta Hasnain, were not carried or carried as an afterthought:

“I want to make it very clear that this is an allegation and if there is any truth in this, then it’s a criminal act against which strict action must be taken,”

“I want to clarify the combat uniforms are worn by (militants), they also carry radio sets and pouches. There are already different versions of the same story. The lady (the victim) first said she was abducted by civilian individual and even mentioned his name. No reference was made to army or security forces and this obviously proves that there are inimical forces that want to create a situation for the state government and the army which is going to be negative,” he said, adding, “This is why I want to appeal Awam (people) and media to trust us. We will do a dispassionate investigation into it and if there is any truth at all (into the allegations), we will take stern action against the culprit.”

“Incidentally, I have a copy of FIR with me and there is no mention of army in it,” he said, adding, “We are aware that not only the army, but (militants) also wear combat uniforms. We conducted an operation against militants a fortnight ago in the same area and the militants are under pressure. Therefore, this was something not unexpected at all. I was expecting it which is why I appeared before you (media) with total transparency.”

“We have a very strong presence of people around that area not in the area. First of all I want to tell you that people from the unit are at the moment with police. We are accompanying them to ensure that any query pertaining to army is answered on the spot. Secondly, army is disciplined force and it is almost impossible that two individuals remain away with weapons from a camp for 48-hours.”

The use of media by the ISI in fomenting disinformation, inciting unrest and supporting separatist campaigns in the scamp districts of the Kashmir valley needs to be probed, measured and reckoned with.

This should be followed through with strategic measures by revamping the media facing communication apparatus and structure of the State Government, the MHA and the MoD, if the use of this faculty has to be denied as an instrument of PsyOps in the valley.

Unrest provides a fertile environment for festering of Islamic Insurgency and justification for violence and atrocity in the name of religion. This faculty has to be denied if the insurgency is going to die.

Another aspect that needs to be examined is the apologist and appeasement narrative of the Congress led UPA Government that seeks to subliminally restrain Intelligence agencies, Police and other similarly charged administrative authorities to successfully execute their mandate.

This sadly also translates to an eager to please media that sometimes reads these signals erroneously, with tragic effects for India and its hapless victims of terror.

This narrative has manifested itself in the poor reporting of the Fai story on the one hand and the over reporting of the 'Rape' allegation against the Indian Army, the CRPF, The Police, etc, on the other hand.

The MoD usually quite active when publishing a Supreme Court case dismissal of a petition against it filed by a war Widow, or its shenanigans against the Chief of Army Staff, General VK Singh, somehow becomes rather passive in engaging with such malicious use of the media.

Similarly the MHA and its various private armies spend a lot of their energies creating media coverage on the bogey of Hindu Terror, or other minority appeasement news, but all these leaks never seem to work for the security fights that India fights in insurgencies from the Maoist hinterland to the North East to Kashmir.

There needs to be introspection on our ethos as a nation, for the current narrative in fashion with the UPA is enabling terror, insurgency and foreign intelligence terror plots to succeed.

Have certain people in Government become the enemy because of their vote bank compulsion?

Where will this take us as a people?

How many will die before we learn to call a spade, a spade?

These questions beg urgent answers, if India has to have any reasonable non-balkanized future as modern nation state.

Quick Analysis of Key Issues Affecting General V.K. Singh, COAS Relations with Indian Ministry of Defense, MoD:

2011-07-19T15:20:00.002+05:30

Analysis of key issues affecting General V.K. Singh, COAS, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, relations with MoD:

1. Date of Birth Controversy: Essentially stoked by the MoD, this discrepancy in his age was leaked to the media, to try and limit the General’s tenure, generally seen as tough and non-pliable. Discussion of next in line for command-Gen Bikram Singh and General Parnaik is an old ploy employed by MoD bureaucracy to ‘tune’ officers.

2. Several postings and promotions recommended by the COAS have been kept in abeyance on the issue of frequent changes to promotion policy by the MoD. This is nothing but blackmail and violation of protocol and undue interference by the MoD, to promote favoritism and usual nepotism associated with political appointments. It has also been seen as quid pro quo against the tough line adopted by Gen. VKS as COAS. The resulting stalemate saw dozens of officers retiring in the ensuing period, depriving the Army of critical trained manpower.

3. Refusal to involve Indian Army in Maoist fight: With the Armed Forces already stretched in new force projection on the Chinese borders, as well as the CI Grid in Kashmir, the correct refusal of COAS to embroil the Army in CI operations in the heartland, especially since it faces AFSPA problems in Kashmir and the North East, not supported by the MHA or the MoD Bureaucracy, and politicians despite being in these CI theatres at the request of the Union Government of India or the State Governments, as an aid to Civil Authority, has not gone down well with the MoD.

4. General Singh has proposed changes to the existing MoD systems that put a choke hold on procurement and evaluation, often resulting in the returning of budgets, as well tampering with considered professional military advice, on flimsy and non-professional grounds by MoD bureaucracy or Financial Adviser(s). He has further proposed:

5. Defense Planning commission, He has also been pushing for a LTIPP – this has been hanging fire for the past 3 years, and procurement has been adhoc, and mired between a difference of perception between the Service HQs and the Financial Adviser.

6. He has further advocated better Services & DRDO coordination striking at the heart of the politico-bureaucratic complex that is the key to the MoD gravy train.

7. General VK Singh’s statement of being able to strike within Pakistan did not go down well with the MoD. He has again repeated the same statement at the conclusion of Op. Pine Prahar of the Vajra Strike Corps.

8. General Singh has further broached the topic of the strategic Kinnaur and Ladakh road as well as the proposed road to build redundancy from the Kargil highway that passes through Jammu & Kashmir. This posturing although correct given the Chinese build-up, and India’s subsequent alarmed efforts in this direction on raising Mountain Divisions and Strike Corps, as well as rapid development of logistics and infrastructure to counter the Chinese threat through the trans Tiber Railway etc. It goes contrary to statements of MEA, NSA’ Menon as well as MoD.

9. Despite all these provocations and an inimical MoD, he has stuck to his guns. India is lucky to have a 3^rd generation officer as CoAS. On his watch and on the strength of his ideas, despite the shenanigans of Saint Anthony as well as the bureaucracy, and the overall Congress led UPA compulsion ad proclivity, I see the lot of the Armed Forces getting better. This will however come at personal cost to him. Let us hope that we don’t see an Admiral Bhagwat sort of situation. This feckless Government is certainly capable of it.

Update, On 16 January 2012: General VK Singh in an unprecedented move that set the Indian media on fire, took the Congress led UPA Government to court over the date of birth controversy stoked by the MoD: " It is all about honour and integrity, not tenure", said General Singh.

Quick Analysis of Issues Facing the Indian Armed Forces with respect to the Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD):

2011-07-19T15:16:00.001+05:30

1. Shortage of officers - With the most recent manpower demand, by the Indian Army in keeping with cold start and quick mobilization, both on Pakistani as well as Chinese theaters.

2. Equipment Deficiency: From basic infantry rifle to ammunition, to ordnance, to battlefield vehicles, armored vehicles, light tanks, artillery, mountain howitzers, to helicopters & troop-equipment and heavy lift aircraft currently available not with the Army but with only the Air Force. The purchase of 155MM Gun has been pending for more than a decade! The constant changing of the goal post even after

3. DRDO & The Dept. of Defense Production & Supplies have largely failed in providing equipment, arms, ammunition, clothing and general stores, along with the Swadeshi brigade. While on the one hand they have as a rule failed to deliver any innovation, on the other hand delaying acquisition, by a faulty make or buy process, directly affecting preparedness.

4. Service Rivalry is actively encourage by the MoD - this has at its basis the insecurity of the politico-bureaucracy, this lack of jointness, means redundancy in resources, private armies and Special Forces of each service. It also delays decisive, quick and resolute action backed by all possible resource needs in a conflict situation-examples from 1965, to Kargil to 26/11-where NSG commando, did not have aircraft or their own helicopters or even transport, delaying and damaging prospects for quick surgical strike. The sacking of Admiral Bhagwat in MoD intrigue, as well as the scuttle of CDS-agreed to by the Army (Gen Malik) but objected to by IAF (Air Marshal Tipnis) are among many such nasty incidents.

5. The amalgamation of the MoD with the Service Headquarters has not been implemented, despite the Arjun Singh report post Kargil fiasco. This in effect means a disconnect between the civilian bureaucracy and the Service HQ staff. This results in apathy by civilian MoD officials and disharmony with Uniformed Service HQ staff like Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) and Chief of Staff Secretariat (COSC). The non- inclusion of professional service officers in uniform means redundancy in process, duplication of files, delays, as well as a lack of direct access for the Service HQs to the Political leadership and decision-making.

6. The Financial Adviser in integrated into the MoD, acts arbitrarily despite clear recommendations from Service Headquarters on matters relating to expenditure on acquisition, welfare, salaries, pensions as well as promotions. This affects both Capital Outlay as well as revenue expenditure.

7. In 2004, the Dept. of Ex-Servicemen Welfare was created to deal with all resettlement, welfare and pension matters of ex-servicemen, Widows and next of kin. This has been a huge failure with embarrassing protests on One Rank & One Pension and several veterans returning medals etc.

8. The Order of Precedence - this has been often violated by the MoD bureaucracy while dealing with Service HQ staff in uniform - starting as early as the 1962 Chinese invasion order by an Joint Secretary in MoD, to routine such provocations, including the unceremonious sacking of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, in an order from a Additional secretary of the MoD, as opposed to Cabinet Secretariat or other Political Authority. The same is a problem at airports, at public events where the Service Chiefs and other senior officers in uniformed are made to feel inferior in comparison to MoD and other Government functionaries in Defense Production, DRDO. Defense Accounts etc. “The issue is not about money....it is about status and equivalence that existed [before the pay commission], and the command and

control relationship [between the armed forces officers and their civilian counterparts]. Admiral Sureesh Mehta

9. Resistance to reform, delay, non-accountability, financial irresponsibility, and rampant nepotism in Ordnance factories-The Defense Procurement Procedure – 2011 (DPP-2011) while its covers all Capital Acquisitions, (except medical equipment) undertaken by the Ministry of Defence, Defence Services and Indian Coast Guard both from indigenous sources and ex-import, curiously the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) will, however, continue to follow their own procedures for procurement. This shows a lack of political willpower as well as protection of the MoD bureaucracy from similar scrutiny as the uniformed Service HQ staff.

10. Financial degradation, and degradation of Financial Compensation of Armed Forces: The non-inclusion of a Defense adviser created a huge controversy over the recommendations made by the sixth pay commission in 2008-09. Which caused widespread dissatisfaction within the armed forces and triggered, arguably, one of the biggest crises in civil-military relations after the 1962 India-China war.

Please see:

Restructuring the Indian Armed Forces

House panel pulls up defence ministry

Talented graduates are increasingly scarce and the search for ‘officer-like’ qualities will be increasingly futile. It’s time for other, harder strategies

Army mulling over increasing strength by 16,000 officers

Failing to Deliver: Post Crises Defence Reforms in India, 1998-2010

Defence Procurement Procedure: Capital Procurement, Ministry of Defence, 2011

Standing Committee on Defence: Action Taken Report on Grants Demanded by MoD (15th Lok Sabha)

PMO initiates probe into shoddy NTRO UAV deal

India can’t do a ‘Geronimo’: There are major fault-lines by Lt Gen Harwant Singh (retd)

The man on horseback

National security strategy is fundamental: The foremost requirement is formulating a comprehensive national security strategy by Gurmeet Kanwal

Ministry seeks views on procurement policy by Aman Malik

Antony gags Army, Navy, Air Force

US led UNSC Dilution of Sanction Against Taliban Against Indian Security Interests: MEA Voice Ineffectual

2011-06-18T14:45:00.000+05:30

As the US scuttle in Afghanistan gathers steam, moves such as the UNSC split of sanctions between AL-Qaeda and the Taliban, will become more frequent.

The Indian MEA has been characteristically muted in its criticism at the move. The statements by the Indian envoy to the United Nations, Hardeep Singh Puri: "The syndicate of terrorism, with intricate inter-connections, comprising al-Qaeda, elements of the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terrorist groups that operate from within and outside Afghan borders are among the biggest threats from terrorism worldwide," as well as, "This is a scenario that we can ill-afford in our fight against terrorism," and "The process of listings as well as de-listings needs to be guided by the same set of principles - fairness, credibility and transparency." have been lost in the general din of the other statements carried on this issue by Indian and global media.

It does not help India's case that it is one of the 15 member of the Security Council to approve resolutions 1988 and 1989. The other notable voice opposed to this selective delisting was Russia.

The US State Department statement on the UNSC sanctions split is clearly a precursor to new negotiations with the Taliban: "Passage of UNSC Resolution 1988, which establishes the Afghanistan sanctions regime, is a tangible sign of support by the international community for Afghan reconciliation efforts. At the same time, the resolution contributes to ongoing efforts to combat the insurgency. The new regime will be an important tool to support the Government of Afghanistan’s efforts to reconcile with insurgents who are willing cut ties to international terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, renounce violence, and respect Afghanistan’s constitution, including its protections for all Afghan women and men."

The comments of Susan Rice, US envoy to the United Nations were particularly telling, when she said, “Today’s action shows that the Security Council can adapt flexibly to evolving threats.” That this flexibility on terror comes at the cost of other nations, when it suits American interests is ironic.

Pussy footing by India against its interests both at issues as such international anti-terror regimes, as well as lack of engagement with the Taliban, will see India eventually reap a whirlwind in Kashmir and other theaters of potential India-Taliban conflict.

The US it must be noted has been traditionally delinquent where India's security needs are concerned and consequences for its actions should be across the board including defense purchases and voting for similar measures in the UN, in congruence with Indian interests rather than any notions of misplaced loyalty that are seldom reciprocated.

India and its foreign policy continue to be hobbled by crusty past positions that have either become defunct or in some cases even reversed. Instead of being lead by self interest, it is led by notions and bureaucratic precedent. Even when there is innovation in relations with the US, China or Pakistan, it is rendered stillborn due to an inability to communicate on the world stage, characterized by a poor understanding of media relations and strategic PR.

A quick visit to the MEA website for statements as well as press releases showed no press releases on the official Indian statement! The Press Information Bureau portal showed zero press releases from the MEA in the entire month of June till the date of posting this piece!

Toot Goes The Media Gravy Train - On the Wrong Side of History!

2011-06-08T20:26:00.000+05:30

Those in the Indian Media on the wrong side of history, peddling Congress Government spin shamelessly, this is for you:

What you can not comprehend, must be demonized.

What is upsetting the apple cart must be communal.

What can not be understand must be discredited.

Cynicism, justification and obfuscation, fortunately the people of India have seen through all this, and the lies have all come unstuck!

Even if Baba Ramdev was RSS, what is so bad about the RSS? If you had intellectual problems with the RSS, how do you derail an Anna?

Law & Order is a State subject, so what is Chidambaram doing as Union Home Minister (MHA) commenting on affairs of the Delhi State?

The shamelessness of Congress gets obscene. Chidambaram thinks that people are fools. Days of communal tinderbox comments and bullshit are over. When there was a real terror threat, this government did sweet fuckall, now they go and assault unarmed fasting protesters sleeping, like assasins in the thick of the night. The arrogance and the stupidity is palpable!

Another person who gets a lot of press is Digvijay Singh, a skilled practitioner of a pedestrian discourse, and lowly political techniques, a man of gambit, of despicable sacrifice maneuvers, coupled with a plausible denial. The Congress uses such gambits and such people, all the time, to discredit inconvenient opponents win cheap popularity with its Muslim vote bank or to appeal to other anti RSS scaremongers, brown sahibs and Left Liberals. How is it that no one in the media ever questions such communal and lowly discourse, the temptation to sensationalize wins over the need to learn to look beyond it and even counter it.

What about everything else that is wrong with the Congress Government from Oil Price Decontrol to Deficit Management to Inflation, to Corruption-2G, to Security, Terror Preparedness, to Extra-Constitutional power centers like the NAC that are a fraud on the constitution?

These are questions posterity will judge you on, and you better have some good answers or history will not forgive you! These are amazing times. Times of change, of monumental progress in the journey of Indian democracy, of secularism and of freedom itself.

Anaahat Naad: Reversal of Exodus: Separate Homeland

2010-10-07T09:15:00.000+05:30

Anaahat Naad: Reversal of Exodus: Separate Homeland: Kashmiri Pandits want separate homeland to North and East of Jhelum River with a status of Union Territory where there is free flow of Indian Constitution without any fetters of Article 370. A separate homeland where there is no fear of attack on distinct culture, tradition and religion of Kashmiri Pandits.

Kashmir, Privy Purses & An Insidious Indian Dynasty

2010-09-26T14:12:00.000+05:30

As Home Minister, Chidambaram becomes the latest Government of India spokesperson to offer concessions to Kashmiri separatists, followed by a quick rejection, the gridlock of the Valley continues. The game of engagement has but one effect, the denigration of the authority of the Indian state and the raising of the profile of a body of scamps and Islamic radicals that have no elected status in glaring contrast.

Glaring stupidity gets compounded by concessions that should not have been given for breaking the law and rewarding traitors. The narrative of the valley will remain the same moral hazard till the Congress party wakes up to the reality of there being no solution in revisionism. If anything these will sow the seeds for the next rounds of protests.

The inaction on the plight of the Hindu Kashmiri Pandits forced to exodus in their own country under genocide conditions stays ignored by India, the misery of Kashmiri Pandits stays brushed under denial, ironically highlighted by part measures only to Kashmiri Muslim separatists.

Kashmir should not and must not be above other Indian states and at their fiscal and statutory expense, Article 370 must go, all the foisted leadership fraud in the valley, the mentality of privy purses and monarchy have no place in a republic.

While the proposals for removing the AFSPA or its dilution through sleight of hand and sophistry that has become the hallmark of the Congress Party led UPA 2 coalition, have been put on hold due to massive opposition within and from the opposition parties, and an unprecedented and vocal opposition the the Indian Army, this remains an area of concern. A bogey raised often that needs to be called for what it is-a measure to lay the blame elsewhere.

There is no silver bullet solution to Kashmir, and the questions have all the ready answers only if we looked at the vision of the founding fathers and their yet valid statutes in the Indian Constitution, being sought to be replaced by half wits in the current Indian governance.

Commonwealth Games New Delhi 2010 Imbroglio, Lessons & Non Effect

2010-09-25T14:33:00.002+05:30

The last few weeks have seen the countdown to the Commonwealth Games 2010, a distasteful and sorry affair by most counts, forsaken by dissent within in the Government, and criticism outside both in the opposition and mainstream intelligentsia, assorted punditry and the usual apologists.

As rubbish is heaped on India in its own media and now the foreign media, the former largely led by the colonies of the erstwhile British Empire, and its apologists still in mute disbelief of the fact that life and time has moved on from a once omnipotent state to one of penury, cutbacks and general misery. They have revelled in using the Commonwealth Games (CWG) as a stick to beat a resurgent India, with the coverage ranging from gratuitous to outright offensive.

It in itself wouldn't have stood for much but coming after all the good news on India as it basked unhurt in the meltdown of the last fiscals and all the tech services phallic projection, it is a big come down.

Life will go on, even the infrastructure gains from the CWG for New Delhi will be immense, as they will remain beneficial to a city led down by its own guardians.

Of all the red lines drawn in history, this too will become a footnote eventually, but when the clarity of history dawns, this government will go down as most corrupt, inefficient and bad for India. And it did happen conveniently on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's watch and whilst he may himself be clean, but a clean puppet is the most colossal fraud perpetrated by his handlers, and the most corrupt cabinet in India's recent governments. He has been used to launder some gross things that have gone on here.

No, I don't suppose anything will happen (like in 1962 Chinese defeat, 1984 Sikh riots, 26/11 terrorist attack and carnage), for the gravy train stretches from top to bottom. Some people will remember and the Congress needs to be reminded that it can be voted out, and it should for creating this infamy, on an otherwise law abiding, competent, successful and confident India shamed by this outrage.

The CWG are stillborn and no matter what glorious spectacles unfold, the Games seem beyond redemption. Lessons for everyone, people will not forget the Congress party for this.

India will continue, despite its government, it will prosper, succeed and thrive for its has known success and it is an easy penchant to follow, once you've discovered the spring in your stride.

Dynasty Politics, The Theory of Unintended Consequences & The Demonized Indian Army

2010-09-15T21:44:00.000+05:30

Begaani Shaadi Me Abdullah Deewana, quite literally Omar can not be blamed for all the ills of Kashmir, existed as they have since 1947 accession. He of all the people should have known better from the experience of kin gone on before him that the Indian Army was his benefactor and generations of Kashmiri's before him starting from Maharajah Hari Singh ruler of Kashmir, who signed the accession of Kashmir under threat from Jinnah's marauding hordes.

The fate of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is lost on no one, and the notion of freedom will not exist there for ages to come looking at the posture of Pakistan, its Army and the denial of free media access or movement to the region.

Ironies don't end here as the Indian Army is not involved at all in the current turmoil in Kashmir, the preserve of the the J&K Police & the CRPF and other CPOs.

If loosening whatever little is left of governance in J&K, by means of diluting or removing Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA), mounting pressure on Police (SOG), CPOs, is face saving for the NC, then who authorized this wet dream and under what mandate. This is not someone's inheritance. Last India was a democracy and there were such niceties as Parliament and debate.

The media, much of which willingly espoused this Congress gambit is equally stung by their inability to have read the pulse of public opinion and the resentment this perverse politicking with the AFSPA & Indian Army, seen by many as the last bastion of a clean institution and Indian's last line of defense.

It is hardly Ironic that the dynasty in Congress should play politics with the Indian Armed Forces for the sake of another dynasty. It wasn't always that the Congress was anti Indian Armed Forces. The BJP has stood by the Army, isolated as it is today! The Left in its opposition is inconsequential and its only value remains nuisance value.

The theory on unintended consequences has pitted a recalcitrant Omar Abdullah against the Indian Army and its right minded nationalist supporters that are suddenly appearing all over the Indian landscape like the proverbial phoenix that rose from the ashes.

Omar we thought of a nationalist has since turned out to be a weakling and a malingerer, because it is impossible to be a nationalist and be popular in the traitor districts of Kashmir valley! Any other institution was fine but his unfair and vitriolic views on the Indian Army sealed his fate.

Too long in this country has the Army been treated in a cavalier fashion! As India polarizes around malcontent and religious divide spread by the same poisonous politics that spawned the partition, the mood in India has hardened, and the Congress besides seeing an internal fissure, is clearly out of step with both public opinion and that means losing votes and elections in the long term if it is seen as compromising on national security for pecuniary short term gain.

Omar would have muddled along but for his cardinal sin to use the Army as a whipping boy, to camouflage failure on the governance (as have his father and grandfather before innumerable times). This misreading has cost both the Congress and National Conference dear as it has agitated a base level public opinion, which is hard to finesse or obfuscate with usual promises and sophistry.

The Indian Army meanwhile is being subjected to increased attacks on moral grounds as a way to besmirch its good name. Many retired officers have allowed themselves an ego boost of being used as de facto spokespersons, at the behest of media and think tanks, at the cost of the mother institution, to prove arcane, obscure and malafide theories.

The Indian Army meanwhile has no direct voice, muzzled as it is by decades of political and bureaucratic insecurity, jealousy and keeping the fighting man out of policy and Defense management, Research and Strategic armament management.

Its information strategy, its information warfare technique, even vanilla public and media relations, and general reputation management remains mired in a precedent organization that does not face the fast paced media world of Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and the Internet, beyond even the traditional Print and Broadcast media.

The Ministry of Defense and its patron Minister have failed to represent the views of the Military, and this reflects in order of precedence, pay and such dirty politics as the ones India is witnessing over (AFSPA) meant to protect Indian sovereignty in extenuating and extra ordinary circumstances as exist today in the Indian North East and Kashmir Valley.

It didn't need to play out like this, but the dysfunction in the Congress has allowed real power to be centralized in the Gandhi family, away from the Prime Minister, the traditional head of the government in India.

This dysfunction also manifests itself in all arms of government, bureaucracy and business regulation. The concentration of power has meant destruction of institutions that were once merit driven and democratic, and the consequences of this bastardization are evident all around us as we prepare to exit 2010.

Clearly there is no silver bullet solution for Kashmir, concessions will not douse this fire. What is needed is the iron will of a Sardar Patel, may more like him be born in the Indian Republic and those existing recognized and promoted to positions of eminence, power and fortitude in Indian politics, bureaucracy and its Armed Forces.

AFSPA Dilution & Politics Over Armed Forces: Whitewashing NC & Congress Failure in Kashmir

2010-09-14T21:30:00.002+05:30

AFSPA is a legal framework for the state to raise its hands to say that its pants are down. Problem is the politicians, bureaucrats and other rats of the internal security jungle don't like to be told to stand down. The North East was where it came into play post notification in 1958. J&K as late as 1990, so clearly its a bullshit screen.

Because the Army has been every dhotiwala's whipping boy for ages! Natty little punk johnny come lately Omar thought he could hose the Army too and hide his report card, what he and his perverse backers in the Cong did not estimate was the backlash in its face saving planned for Omar/NC.

If loosening whatever little is left of governance in J&K, by means of diluting removing AFSPA, mounting pressure on Police (SOG), CPOs, is face saving for the NC, then who authorized this wet dream and under what mandate. This is not someone's inheritance. Last India was a democracy and there were such niceties as Parliament and debate.

The media, much of which willingly espoused this Congress gambit is equally stung by their inability to have read the pulse of public opinion and the resentment this perverse politicking with the AFSPA & Indian Army, seen by many as the last bastion of a clean institution and Indian's last line of defence.

While the CCS meeting held on 13 September saw a cabinet divided in the middle, the matter is far from closed. Let's us see what sleight of hand happens tomorrow in the all party meeting which never gets a Kashmiri Pandit representatives ironically. Burning their temples, denying their lineage, history and existence is okay in the Congress brand of secularism, while a retrograde Home Minister goes about talking on urban legends like Saffron Terror.

Update from Leh - Insaniyat Team

2010-08-30T22:43:00.000+05:30

We returned from Leh with a bag of mixed feelings. It was heart breaking to see the devastation. It was heart wrenching to see people who had lost everything, who would urge us to offer the relief supplies to someone needier. There was no jostling, pushing or grabbing. They stood with a quiet dignity accepting gratefully what was handed out.

People who had lost family members silently mourned their loss. We discovered they had a great sense of community living, sharing equally what little they had.. It was also heart warming to see the hope of strength with which they were ready to pick up the pieces. Corruption and Crime, we learned, was one of the lowest in the country. We infact received more than we gave. It was very rewarding and satisfying. We returned truly humbled.

Now for some mundane facts and data. We had put together 500 “family packs” which made distribution easier. Each pack contained a sleeping bag, a 12’x12’ tarpaulin, a blanket, a kerosene stove, a bucket with mug , a jerry can , a 13 piece set of steel utensils, a toilet kit and a torch. In addition we too 200 non-electric steel water purifiers, 200 blankets, and 20 high altitude (12’x12’) tents. All these were personally distributed by the INSANIYAT team.

Everyone knows that the Army has a huge presence in LEH. But what everyone doesn’t know is how the Army took charge instantly, starting rescue, clearing and cleaning operations. Simultaneously they provided medical and relief in housing, feeding and clothing the disaster stricken. All this while the local authorities were still in shock and inertia.

Regretfully the press has been rather irresponsible in reporting matters leading articles with big pictures of politicians visiting Leh made front page news. Lots of promises were made and a relief package announced.

Somewhere on page4 a small article mentioned the visit of the Army Chief of staff. No mention of the commendable work the Army was doing. Let us stand and salute the Army.

Unlike other disaster stricken areas, where relief and rehab can go on for many months, Leh has less than a 2 month window left. After this temperatures will drop precariously and any action will be impossible. Their greatest need right now is to build homes before the onset of Winter. After providing them with some basic provisions, we plan to finance some prefabricated housing .

We would like to thank all our friends for their generous contributions . Individual receipts will be sent.

Thanking you
Insaniyat Team

Indian Army Pay Scales: An Indian shame, as battle veterans of the Indian Army return medals & protest for what is their right.

2010-08-23T21:08:00.001+05:30

An Indian shame, as old veterans of the Indian Army return medals and protest for what is their right. Glaring too is the hike given to parliamentarians in comparison. The real reason some believe for the alarming shortfall in the Officers and men of the Indian Army, despite all the spin!

It does seem that Indian politicians and bureaucrats are set to destroy the one remaining institution of the Indian Republic.

Below I am reproducing an e-mail that explains the issue in great lucidity:

Pay scales for the Armed Forces: Views of an IAS Officer

We need a permanent solution to this tussle over emoluments so that the armed forces need only confront the enemies of the nation, says T.R. Ramaswami, IAS.

In the continuing debate on pay scales for the armed forces, there has to be a serious and transparent effort to ensure that the country is not faced with an unnecessary civil-military confrontation.

That effort will have to come from the netas, who are the real and true bosses of the armed forces and not the civil bureaucracy. A solution may lie in what follows.

This country requires the best armed forces, the best police and the best civil service. In fact that is what the British ensured. By best one means that a person chooses which service he wants as per his desires/capabilities and not based on the vast differential in prospects in the various services.

How much differential is there? Take Maharashtra, one of the most parsimonious with police ranks thus still retaining some merit -The 1981 IPS batch have become 3-star generals, the 1987 are 2-star and the 1994 1-star.

In the army the corresponding years are 1972, 1975, 1979, ie a differential of 10-15 years. While the differential is more with the IAS, the variance with the IPS is all the more glaring because both are uniformed services and the grades are "visible" on the shoulders.

First some general aspects. Only the armed forces are a real profession ie where you rise to the top only by joining at the bottom. We have had professors of economics become Finance Secretaries or even Governors of RBI. We have any number of MBBSs, engineers, MBAs, in the police force though what their qualifications lend to their jobs is a moot point.

You can join at any level in the civil service, except Cabinet Secretary. A civil servant can move from Animal Husbandry to Civil Aviation to Fertilisers to Steel to yes, unfortunately, even to Defence..But the army never asks for Brigade Commanders or a Commandant of the Army War College or even Director General Military Intelligence, even from RAW or IB.

Army officers can and have moved into organizations like IB and Raw but it is never the other way round. MBBS and Law graduates are only in the Medical or JAG Corps and do nothing beyond their narrow areas.

Every Army Chief - in any army - has risen from being a commander of a platoon to company to battalion to brigade to division to corps to army. In fact the professionalism is so intense that no non-armoured corps officer ever commands an armoured formation first and possibly only exception in world military history is General K. Sunderji.

Perhaps it is this outstanding professionalism that irks the civil services. Next, one must note the rigidity and steep pyramid of the army's rank structure. In the civil services any post is fungible with any grade based on political expediency and the desires of the service. For example I know of one case where one department downgraded one post in another state and up-graded one in Mumbai just to enable someone continue in Mumbai after promotion!

You can't fool around like this in the armed forces. A very good Brigadier cannot be made a Major-General and continue as brigade commander. There has to be a clear vacancy for a Major General and even then there may be others better than him. Further the top five ranks in the army comprise only 10% of the officer strength.

Contrast this with the civil services where entire batches become Joint Secretaries.Even the meaning of the word "merit" is vastly different in the army and the civil services.

Some years back an officer of the Maharashtra cadre claimed that he should be the Chief Secretary as he was first in the merit list.Which merit list? At the time of entry more than 35 years before! The fact is that this is how merit is decided in the IAS and IPS.

Every time a batch gets promoted the inter-se merit is still retained as at the time of entry. In other words if you are first in a batch at the time of entry, then as long as you get promoted, you continue to remain first! This is like someone in the army claiming that he should become chief because he got the Sword of Honour at the IMA.

Even a Param Vir Chakra does not count for promotion, assuming that you are still alive. In the armed forces, merit is a continuous process - each time a batch is promoted the merit list is redrawn according to your performance in all the previous assignments with additional weightage given not only to the last one but also to your suitability for the next one.

Thus if you are a Brigade Commander and found fit to become a Major General, you may not get a division because others have been found better to head a division. That effectively puts an end to your promotion to Lt. General.

The compensation package must therefore address all the above issues. In each service, anyone must get the same total compensation by the time he reaches the 'mode rank' of his service. "Mode" is a statistical term “the value where the maximum number of variables fall.

In the IAS normally everyone reaches Director and in the IPS it is DIG. In the army, given the aforementioned rank and grade rigidities and pyramidical structure, the mode rank cannot exceed Colonel.

Thus a Colonel's gross career earnings (not salary scales alone) must be at par with that of a Director. But remember that a Colonel retires at 54, but every babu from peon to Secretary at 60 regardless of performance.

Further, it takes 18-20 years to become a Colonel whereas in that time an IAS officer reaches the next higher grade of Joint Secretary, which is considered equal to a Major General.

These aspects and others - like postings in non-family stations - must be addressed while fixing the overall pay scales of Colonel and below. Thereafter a Brigadier will be made equal to a Joint Secretary, a Major-General to an Additional Secretary and a Lt. General to a Secretary.

The Army Commanders deserve a new rank -Colonel General - and should be above a Secretary but below Cabinet Secretary. The equalization takes place at the level of Cabinet Secretary and Army Chief.

If this is financially a problem I have another solution. Without increasing the armed forces' scales, reduce the scales of the IAS and IPS till they too have 20% shortage. Done?

Even India 's corruption index will go down. If the above is accepted in principle, there is a good case to review the number of posts above Colonel. Senior ranks in the armed forces have become devalued with more and more posts being created.But the same pruning exercise is necessary in the IAS and more so in the IPS, where Directors General in some states are re-writing police manuals eg one is doing Volume I and another Volume II!

Further the civil services have such facilities as "compulsory wait" ie “ basically a picnic at taxpayers cost. And if you are not promoted or posted where you don't want to go they seem able to take off on leave with much ease. In the army you will be court-martialled. Also find out how many are on study leave. The country cannot afford this.

Let not someone say that the IAS and IPS exams are tougher and hence the quality of the officers better. An exam at the age of 24 has to be tougher than one at the age of 16. The taxpaying citizen is not interested in your essay/note writing capabilities or whether you know Cleopatra's grandfather.

As a citizen I always see the army being called to hold the pants of the civil services and the police and never the other way round. That's enough proof as to who is really more capable.

Also recall the insensitive statements made by the IG Meerut in the Aarushi case and the Home Secretary after the blasts. Further, when the IAS and IPS hopefuls are sleeping, eating and studying, their school mates, who have joined the army, stand vigil on the borders to make it possible for them to do so.

Remember that the armed forces can only fight for above the table pay. They can never compete with the civil services and definitely not with the police for the under the table variety.

Finally, there is one supreme national necessity. The political class, not the bureaucracy - which represents the real civil supremacy better become more savvy on matters relating to the armed forces. Till then they are at the mercy of the civil service, who frequently play their own little war games.

At ministerial level there are some very specialized departments eg: Finance, Railways, Security (Home), Foreign and Defence, where split second decisions are necessary. It is always possible to find netas savvy in finance, foreign relations and railways. Security has been addressed in getting a former IPS officer as NSA at the level of a MoS.

Is it time that a professional is also brought into the Defence Ministry as MoS?

The sooner the better. In fact this will be better than a CoDS because the armed forces will have someone not constrained by the Army Act or Article 33 of the Constitution. Of course the loudest howls will come from the babus. The netas must realize that a divide and rule policy cannot work where the country's security is concerned.

Recall 1962? Our army, already engaged in activities not core to their functions, including rescuing babies from borewells (!), should not have to engage in civil wars over their pay scales.

I only hope our defence minister or anyone who would take a reasonable stand for defence forces ever gets to see this article.It would definitely affect any person with an iota of integrity!

India Again Looking for a Magic Bullet in Kashmir

2010-08-16T19:54:00.002+05:30

By Shael Sharma on Monday, August 16, 2010 at 7:44pm

Instead of looking for a magic bullets, the policy wonks in MHA, Intelligence Agencies and PMO, should be doing what is real: ensure the credibility of the Indian state and ensure Law & Order.

While the intense focus of the Media and the resultant perception is creating confusion and obfuscating reality. Everyone in the UPA2 "Strategic Thinking" team seems to be in a state of silent freak out and alarm.

The wonks in MHA & PMO are looking for some exotic strategy, almost paralyzed by the wave of media hostility and disinformation on some districts of the Kashmir valley, in what was essentially petty criminals and OGWs (over ground workers) and out of work militants indulging in stone throwing and criminal arson.

What is really the news? To start with we managed to let the intelligence guard down and did not see this coming.

We have also let this happen before, and then the slow murderous crawl of the Indian Army in bringing Kashmir back in 1989!

The attack on 48 RR of the Indian Army and their subsequent neutralization of 3 terrorists in Rajouri today clearly brings home this point.

What is a multi-pronged assault, needs to be countered back on multiple fronts-soft and hard, economic and counter-terror but before all of this the supremacy of the state and its authority must not be allowed to be compromised, as seems the current aspiration of the current play by malcontents and their Pakistani backers in the Pakistan Army' Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

The use of women and innocent children on the front line is an old ploy in such protests and the sensationalism value especially to media, and ensuing perception is highly calculated in its social engineering, which needs effective counter insurgency and terror strategies. The MHA and other security apparatus have not effectively countered this information warfare, and this has created a perception gap between reality and disinformation, where an ambulance chasing media has amplified bad news either by design or mistaken liberalism.

There is no magic solution to the insurgency or to infiltration. Economic integration of J&K is a first step, followed by abrogation of Article 370, ensuring the iron handling of security, and ensuring Law & Order. There can be no compromise with secularism or with territorial integrity for that is the bedrock of the Indian sovereignty, the plinth of the Indian dream.

Make no mistake: acts of omission or commission aren't really different in the 5 or so scamp districts led by Srinagar. Those who don't condemn stone throwing are as guilty, just as they were complicit when the genocide against Kashmiri Pandits was perpetrated.

The Muslim-Buddhist violence and tension in Ladakh again is a symptom of this covert militancy shrouded under religion. Kashmiri Muslims may be a majority in the valley, but regions of Jammu, Ladakh (glad the PM is finally visiting Leh and hopefully some good may come off it to the suffering people of Ladakh!) are not, both with a good sprinkling of Hindu, Buddhist, Shia and Sunni, who do not support the insurgency.

What is being glorified as Intifada and Azaadi (freedom) is sophistry and propaganda localized in 5 odd districts including the Srinagar valley only. This needs effective media management, and currently the initiative is not with our security or strategic set-up, who have failed in this area miserably.

In India, as anywhere else in the world, if you go and try to indulge in what is essentially criminal arson and assault, and stone throwing, expect to be shot at after due warning, law & order needs to be maintained with a iron hand, for the might of the state and its authority can not be undermined for essentially a whimsical and secessionist agenda.

Talks against real or imagined grouses can come, when things are calmer and never with a gun to the head, for the best negotiation comes from a position of strength and the last few statements by the UPA including the PM's statement of 15th August have done more harm than good, as they seem made under duress rather than with a welfare mindset.

The partition of undivided India was clearly on religious lines; any revisionist moves are nonviable to India and anathema to its idea of secularism, sovereignty and should be put down by force if necessary, especially if resulting from a frequent foreign sponsored religious mutiny by traitors and scamps.

Pakistan has lost every time in its designs persistently since 1947, 1948, 1965, 1971, Siachen, 1989, and Kargil, have borne witness. And it is this demon that Indian strategy has to slay again and not let down its guard or history will repeat!

Instead of looking for a magic bullet, if everyone in the strategic set-up and state administration do their job, and the political leadership in J&K became truly representative and not a monarchy! The leaders today are either legacy family scions or secessionist plants of Pakistan and do not seem to represent the malcontent youth's economic and other political aspirations.

The Indian Army in isolation and with great cost in blood and privation certainly has delivered, again and again, and remains an institution that today can claim to be the sole guardian of India's freedom and security, despite the bureaucratic, intelligence and political follies, and frequent bad judgment practiced in Kashmir for decades.

That then is a solution and we will ensure peace harmony and the dream of an India, that lives a multi-cultural existence, with multi-religious tolerance, and banish the two-nation theory once again! The answers are all there, in the words of the founding fathers, only if we cared to look.

Ladakh Disaster Relief

2010-08-12T15:30:00.000+05:30

As disaster strikes, INSANYIAT once again springs into action. As you may recall Insaniyat is a Delhi based NGO spearheaded by my mother, Dr. Naresh Trehan and Pam Kapoor. Its primarily involved with disaster relief work. It was formed in response to the Gujarat Bhuj earthquake in 2001 and has since provided disaster relief aid to people affected by the Kargil war and Andaman tsunami, amongst others.

In response to the recent mudslides and floods that have devastated Ladakh, an Insanyiat team, including my mother, is heading up to Ladakh along with relief supplies later this week. The National Disaster Management Authority will airlift the supplies from Delhi to Leh on Saturday, August 14 and the Insanyiat team will start distribution on Sunday, August 15.As per Insanyiat's mission statement, their team will personally distribute each kit, rather than pass them off to another NGO or civil authorities.

Insanyiat is taking 500 Family Packs. Our composite ' family pack' consists of a sleeping bag, tarpaulin, blanket, 13 piece set of steel utensils, kerosene stove, water purifier, jerrycan, bucket with mug, bath towel, toilet kit, nylon rope etc. In addition we are sending 20 High Altitude tents (12' x 12'). Each kit costs apprx. Rs. 2000 and each tent is Rs. 10,000.Any number of kits or tents you wish to sponsor with be greatly appreciated. Cheques can be made in favour of 'Insanyiat'. Donations in cash are also welcome.

Please send to the following address:
Roshni Khattar
Empire EstateHouse
#8 Sultanpur, MG road
New Delhi 110030

Thanks and take care,

Roshni Khattar

IBS Denies Everonn Deal -Embarks on Consolidation & Owning Campuses- - World PRwire's blog

2010-08-05T14:14:00.000+05:30

IBS Denies Everonn Deal -Embarks on Consolidation & Owning Campuses- - World PRwire's blog

Quick Analysis on Wikileaks War Logs Exposure

2010-07-27T17:43:00.000+05:30

Quick Analysis on Wikileaks War Logs Exposure:

1. US security despite the Homeland rah rah is in tatters.
2. While we may want to believe that ISI complicity is old news, this is not the case with popular US public opinion. The said publications have been chosen carefully for their credibility and gravitas. What was known to the US strategic community & ISAF all along but placed it under no obligation to change anything, will now come under massive pressure following this exposure.
3. The news is bad for Pakistan, for is Army and by extension the ISI. They have been outed to the local American audience.
4. The news is good for Afghanistan, the war effort (as good as it can be with the Taliban at an all time high since 2001). Things will have a chance to work, as collateral damage and sensitivity to human rights will increase. Lesser innocents dead means better chances for peace!
5. The news for India and its interest in Afghanistan is again positive, as Pakistan duplicity is better known. After the Kabul conference, the news for India was grim. This forces a reckoning and possible opportunities in Afghanistan. Clearly there are lessons for the Indian strategic community, intelligence agencies and information security.
6. On a macro, this is good for ideals of democracy and despite media management, media independence has proven invaluable against lies, deceit and falsehood.

Yog Sports appointed “Official Merchandise Distribution Partner” of the Indian Premier League

2010-03-31T12:01:00.000+05:30

Yog Sports appointed “Official Merchandise Distribution Partner” of the Indian Premier League

·        Yog Sports has acquired exclusive rights to distribute branded merchandise of IPL and all 8 teams across India for a 10-year period.

·     Merchandise will include Jerseys, T-shirts, Caps, Key chains, Wrist bands, Backpacks, Gym bags, Flags, Trumpets, and other accessories including those of the official kit sponsors like Reebok, Adidas and Puma.

·     Yog will be setting up exclusive “IPL Match Stores” at stadiums, multiplexes, airports, railway stations, and ISBT’s, in addition to select malls, high streets, and IT parks.

·     Yog’s merchandise retail footprint is projected to grow from 200 outlets in Year 1 to about 1000 in Year 10; in addition, Yog is also the exclusive supplier to the IPL online match store on www.iplt20.com.

Mumbai, March 30th, 2010: The Indian Premier League (IPL) today announced that Yog Sports, a sports marketing and distribution company that provides international quality merchandise for premier sporting events has signed a 10-year exclusive deal with the league. As part of this partnership, Yog Sports will be the League’s “Official Merchandise Distribution Partner”. Yog will have the exclusive rights to distribute all official merchandise branded with the DLF-IPL brand and all the eight teams included as part of the League.

The proposed merchandise distributed by Yog Sports will include a wide product range including Apparel – T-shirts, Jerseys & Caps; Accessories – Key chains, Wrist bands, Bags and Match day cheering items like flags, cheering sticks, trumpets, and much more. These would also include products from the catalogue of the teams’ official kit sponsors which are Reebok, Adidas and Puma.

Yog has been given the exclusive rights to set up official “IPL Match Stores” inside stadiums, multiplexes, malls, high streets, airports, railway stations, metro stations, and other public locations where live IPL matches will be screened.

Lalit Modi, the Chairman and Commissioner of Indian Premier League said, “Official merchandise is an integral part of any global sporting league, as it helps enhance fans participation and team loyalties. Together with Yog Sports we have defined a collaborative strategy to ensure that IPL fans get access to authentic team merchandise at attractive prices. Yog Sports will now work towards ensuring the highest quality standard for all IPL merchandise and through their robust distribution network will attempt to reach out to fans even outside the stadia and across India.”
Saumitra Srivastava, Director – Yog Sports, speaking at the announcement said, “Yog Sports is pleased to partner with IPL as the exclusive merchandise partner for IPL, and aims to bring to IPL fans, a best-in-breed international merchandise experience, both in terms of quality, choice & value-for-money, and to complement the game changer IPL has proven to be in the world of cricket, sport and entertainment.”
The IPL 2010 will be the first year of operations for Yog Sports as a concessionaire of the IPL. For this year, Yog Sports is setting up 200 retail stores across 12 cities wherever the matches are being held. The company plans to scale up its operations taking its merchandise retail footprint to 1,000 stores in Year 10.
Yog Sports is also the exclusive supplier of official merchandise to the IPL Online Match Store, which is available on www.iplt20.com

Indian Premier League
The IPL 2010 will be played over 45 days across India and will feature a grand total of 60 games, with the addition of a third place play-off.
The league will also see the addition of four new home venues in the form of Cuttack and Nagpur for the Deccan Chargers, Ahmedabad for the Rajasthan Royals and Dharamshala for the Kings XI Punjab.
For more information on all the action in IPL 2010 log onto www.iplt20.com the official online destination of the league.

About Yog Sports
Yog Sports is a sport marketing and distribution Company contracted by the IPL for 10 years as its official merchandise distribution partner. Yog Sports is part of a large corporate group with investments in diversified businesses globally in Hospitality services, Sports & Entertainment, Financial Research, Investment Banking, and many other sectors. The group operates out of its offices in London, New Delhi and Mumbai.

Contacts:
For Yog Sports
For Indian Premier League
Shael Sharma - Spin IMC
Phone: +91 9920243933
Email:shael@spinimc.com

Percy Dubash / JitendraJha
Phone: +919820221792/+91992082926
Email: percy.dubash@adfactorspr.com; jitendra.jha@adfactorspr.com

External Communications Job Going at MphasiS

2010-03-03T20:50:00.000+05:30

External Communication Specialist
Member of the Corporate Communications team at MphasiS, an HP Company.
Will build awareness among key stakeholders about MphasiS strategy, capabilities and differentiators.
Will develop and execute an External Communications Strategy consisting of an integrated Media and Analyst enablement program.
The position is based out of MphasiS corporate HQ at Bangalore
Key responsibilities
Media Relations
 Execution of a comprehensive media outreach program for key Business Units.
 Highlight MphasiS with local, national and international media outlets - broadcast, print and Web - to ensure the company's messages are disseminated efficiently and accurately in news and feature stories.
 Day to day management of the PR Agency
 Conduct a Bi-Annual Media Audit
 Maintain a Project Plan for Media Relations
Analyst Relations
 Help develop and manage analyst relations with global business analyst groups like Forrester, Gartner, IDC and sourcing analysts like Everest, TPI, EquaTerra and others.
 Help with research and documentation for successful analyst interactions resulting in positive rating (like comparison reports/waves/industry reports)
Requirements
 Education in Marketing, Journalism/Communications preferred
 4-6 years overall work experience; prior experience in PR function desired
 High degree of organization; ability to multi-task and meet strict deadlines
 Ability to manage complex projects
 Interface with senior executives and provide communications counsel
 New media skills such as video, podcasting, etc.
 Outstanding (fluent) verbal and written English skills
For more details contact
Michelle Nalini Kumar
Head - Corporate Communications
+91 80 4004 1020 office; Mobile - +91 98450 61533 |michelle.kumar@mphasis.com
Level 1, Bagmane Laurel, Bagmane Tech Park. C V Raman Nagar. Bangalore- 560 093
www.mphasis.com

Measuring Value of new media channels while combining them with traditional channels to manage reputation in a digitally connected world

2009-05-16T20:23:00.004+05:30

I recently chaired and spoke at the 4th Annual Corporate Communications Forum produced by Marcus Evans in Mumbai at the Meridien on 14th and 15th of May, 2009.

Those of you who wanted my presentation on, "Measuring the value of new media channels while combining them with traditional channels to manage reputation in a digitally connected world."

I would love to have your comments!

Shael

4th Annual Corporate Communications Forum at the Meridien, Mumbai on 14-15 May 2009

2009-05-14T17:32:00.004+05:30

Austerity Follows Carnage in Corporate India, Will PR Get Hit?

2008-07-15T16:52:00.001+05:30

It is a mess and it is all over the place and it is not going away in a hurry. The stock market is toast, the oil price is freaking out in the USD 150s, real easte and financial services are tanking like the titanic! Everyone knows that we are in the middle of a meltdown and the effects of inflation have just about started to ruin the financial results of companies.

The politics of the nation are in the gutter and the uncertainty that clouds all decision making both in the public and private enterprise will continue well into the next year, if and when another government comes into being. A government that is cross subsidising the oil bill and some other future government will reap the whirlwind and some whirlwind it will be for sure, and I quote Rahul Bhasin of Barings in the DNA, where he said, “We are frittering away our gains made in the last 15 years”.

Against the background of this carnage in corporate India, the bean counters are finally seeing resurgence, like desert plants, they have waiting out the decade of exuberance. Today they are rising like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes, and promise to be the bane of many brands, marketing campaigns and other assorted still born initiatives. Austerity is back like the rude shock of a cold water bath in the freezing winter!

When the accountant’s chop does come down on big-ticket advertising, out-of-home and television commercials, these being the pet peeves of the accountant PR promises to stay untouched. Having said that budgets for travel, off sites, media training, and all those nice fuzzy things are bound to dry up real quick, if not disappear all together. In all this skirmishing, fortunately for PR, most corporates have come to understand that it is not an on-and-off thing and if anything, some might even find it the last refuge of the marketing to reach their target publics in times of budgetary paucity.

The job market for PR professional and Communicators promises to retain traction and the moaning for talent will stay the wail it is, so here is one area that I again see no effect of the slow down, if anything it could lead to many more corporates hiring for the reasons above.

Challenges bring opportunities and usually constitute the need, the same need that spurs innovation and fosters new paradigms and discoveries. These are the times to service your customer better and to vow to be closer to the business and not lose accounts on reasons of tardiness, inefficiency or downright stupidity! I see many avenues that were shoveled into the “not important or urgent” quadrants due the presence of other ‘lazy cheque’ populars suddenly becoming fashionable. The medium I am talking about and maybe one who’s time has finally come in India, is the online medium.

This is the time to knock again and dust off those online plans, whether it is a programme to engage key bloggers in your space, or kick off that e-mail campaign or spend your remaining rupees in the pursuit of a web-only viral marketing or buzz marketing campaign!

I wish you well in these nasty times, so get dug in and wait it out, this too shall pass, maybe not soon enough but you can always take the time to do something you always wanted to attempt, something forbidden, constructive, intellectual, delicious and inspiring! I look forward to comments here!

Shepherding Your Clients in Times of Manufactured Media Exclusives

2008-05-30T11:10:00.002+05:30

The rapid expansion in the media space has done many good things for the nation. It has provided choice in beats across entertainment, movies, news and education that earlier was simply not ever thought of or envisioned. The proliferation has brought about waves of soaps, contests and now with the first IPL season shaking India, it has brought a gaggle of new anchors anxious to make their mark.

In a landscape dotted by hungry journalists, anchors, show producer, sometimes this breed, crosses the line of prudence and fair practice in the quest for exclusives, scoops and the most dramatic of them all; stings! In times of deadline overload and a lack of any tangible research, editorial balance becomes the first casualty to TRPs, popularity polls and advertising revenue.

How many times have you had a trick e-mail or a innocuous phone call translate into a bombshell in the press the next day, or even the same day in these times of broadcast and online media explosion? If you are out there working the space, then I am sure you do this more than you’d like to and while we all employ our own ways and means to deal with the scourge, maybe the time is right for a discussion. Keeping quiet is not an option so here are a few PR plays I’ve seen practiced:

No comment - This is the most basic defense of the scared communicator or resident PR punter in the establishment. It creates a doubt in the mind of the viewer or reader about the authenticity or veracity of the story but has the potential of making front page all the same or the lead story in the dozen or so television channels out there, business, news, and combinations thereof.
We do not speculate on market speculation - This or another variation of the same featuring words like ‘policy’ are yet another wet blanket in terms of media credibility, will they stop your brand image from get a contentious tag or even a black eye is arguable.
Denial - This is the last reprieve of either the aggrieved or the very stupid, especially if its a lie. It will give a pause to the editor or the journalist, who will question their gut, chances of going to print or being aired, fifty per cent.
Half Agreement, Half Denial - This Molotov Cocktail is the most sophisticated of the ploys, and clearly agrees to all or some part of the allegation but uses the loop in technique to include crisis messaging. Sent as a quote and usually written, it forces the hack to use the statement in full. Only the most savvy can do this bespoke but chances of being quoted out of context or half quoted remain high.
Retraction or Rejoinder - These are mostly ego plasters to paper over bruised management egos, striking how the size of the retraction and rejoinder is in contrast to the placement, font size and prominence of the offending piece.
Confirming statement - This is the pushover statement, executed along with a sincere sorry note and a display of the belly in submission. These are very bad for the ego and best suited for real tragedies, fraud, accidents, calamities and other industrial or infrastructure and government type of communicators.

I am sure there are hilarious variations sitting out there in your very fertile and successful minds and would love to get any more classification here or a anonymous war story, do feel obliged to share your scary knowledge with the tribe.

These are some concerning times that need both awareness of the stakes and training, if it is your privilege to be charged as the guardian of your brand and company image. There are lots of ploys the feverish hack employs to in the get-rich-quick-or-get-fired-trying, exclusive hunt. You need to understand that it is their job to report, to analyze, to predict and to expose, the end is fine but the means are most questionable.

This pool is further muddied by competition and the dirty tricks department using friendly media for planting, seeding or plain obfuscating an issue. I will not use examples but the watchful here will see and read patterns in politics, industry and most media reporting, even that front page headline or the lead story on that television channel that looks innocent at first pass. Go figure…

If they know that you know, then you will receive their respect and maybe the show can continue down the road for all. Right now these are dangerous times for Image and Brand and all seems fair in the media war for exclusives. Next week sticking to a statement and dodging trick questions on the phone. Happy skirmishing!

Game Changers-How IPL Changed Indian Marketing and PR Forever

2008-05-29T14:08:00.008+05:30

Last night the Kings XI Punjab made another killing! Shaun Marsh produced what some would colloquially describe as giving a right walloping and Yuvraj Singh followed through with more arson on the pitch; the two are the cynosure of all eyes in the cricket world in India, the Commonwealth continents and many points further.

This wasn't always the case, suddenly a team that was for long an underdog is making huge waves. The IPL analogy is no different, it came from nowhere and took over the house, and those in the marketing and PR fraternity who were watching the wind speed and its direction are smiling, while the laggards are now wringing their hands in furious frustration at the massive opportunity loss.

A few months have passed since the marketing and PR landscape got hijacked by IPL, the usual heavy-lids marketing and PR veteran, already bored to death with the monotony of the hot summer, mistook it for a flash in the pan, many weeks later it was still there refusing to go away like a bad nightmare, rocketing TRPs and bringing in eyeballs by the truck load for competition; the ones who got on the band wagon are laughing to the brand bank, the ones that did not have conceded defeat. The 'serial shock' gave all channels a huge scare and the war moved from the pitch to the air waves as the IPL tsunami sucked all eyes to a single channel away from the staple 'soap and serial' diet!

Team sponsorships that went a begging are now worth their weight in gold and next season; by all means, do please expect to see the phenomenon of inflation translate to cricket sponsorship. In these incredulous times of USD 130 for a barrel of crude oil, why should inflation be confined to steel, onions and cement?

The fight for eye balls has been won by mobile companies, banks and FMCG companies being the usual suspect that also ran and got some successes. The losers were car and bike companies, ringed in first by the RBI triggered, inflation killer, CRR measures, that squeezed the already flat credit situation. Across packed stadium; the howls of delight and screams of incredulity submerged the Bloomberg story reporting how this had been the lowest growth in the last 10 quarters for India.

As crude oil price insanity triggered troubling visions of more tax and ‘cess-upon-more-cess’ crowded my radar, the oil companies were slowly sinking and losses were being reported first time in the current quarters of these public sector behemoths. As ministries quibbled over customs, excise, luxury tax and oil stabilisation funds, the screams of cricket hooliganism in stadiums kept growing louder, so much more dignified than the marauding Chelsea club fans in England that would shame Genghis Khan but the days are not far! Welcome to the Indian version of the superbowl!

As stories got pitched to the print, television and online spaces and the pickled brain of the now smiling senior PR types picked up the sweet stink of plugs a headline or byte away, agencies were being whipped to leverage the sponsorship investment and brand types were churning websites and campaigns by the dime across outdoor, print and online; search or ad word. Here in this very fertile climate unnoticed a bevy of writers, television anchors and producers were taking birth.

In the text message histrionics of Shah Rukh Khan and Vijay Mallya's tantrums, the hugs of Preity Zinta and the exploits of Ness Wadia with the Punjab Police hijacked dinner and tea time conversations across the homes and offices of the unsuspecting consumer in a heady brew, without alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. Healthy I thought!

In this entire din, the lessons have been many and things have changed forever in sports marketing and PR. The heady mix of entertainment, blaring team songs and not to forget the introduction of cheer leaders in a morality stricken nation, helped tone down changes that would have otherwise not gone down well.

I am talking about the erosion of nationality as the basis for cricket teams. Questions about how ex-team mates will reconcile their fury and belligerence once IPL is over and things are back to normal for the Indian, Sri Lankan, Australian and many other teams. Of course and then unlearning all that when the next IPL starts. In the confines of Wankhede, Eden Gardens, Mohali and many other cricket stadiums, the energy was electric and someone watching the same show on TV would never understand the fury of the music, the hysteria whipped up by the cheer leaders and the crowd as it chanted favourites or booed down others.

The good change that has again gone largely unnoticed like the bad is the new faces that have got the opportunity to play with the reigning cricket gods. Good for India and good for cricket and definitely good for brand endorsement, marketing and Public Relations!

As I wait for the semi-finals, I doff my hat to LK Modi and despite the large headline in a prominent Indian newspaper harking back to a real or imagined misdemeanor 20 years ago in a foreign country, life in India after IPL will never be the same! They are obviously trying to get back at his temerity in bringing in IPL Media Guidelines in the usual petty and spiteful style characteristic of the large egos of the rather spoilt Indian press fraternity. Long live IPL!

Breaking Media Gridlocks When Perception Lags Performance - PR Mind Games

2008-04-04T07:59:00.004+05:30

Every once in a while, there comes the case of a company that is unable to throughput communication in stark contrast to its otherwise brilliant performance indices. I have sought to understand this malady now and again but a chance conversation yesterday with a known genius in the Indian Financial Services space triggered this post. If you are the guardian angel of the Aspirational; the evangelist with passion, fire and a head full of mindgames, the PR kind, then read on…

Perception lags performance, due to many reasons. The causes manifest themselves in three primary reasons. For a Public Relations, Communications or Brand consultant, it is important to understand the terrain before they pick up on a project that seeks to break logjams in the media and perception circuits for a customer.

Breaking gridlocks and logjams for late entrants to the perception game requires special skills, the tricks and tactics have been there forever, question is have you ever thought about it, enough to elevate it to strategy?

Changing share of voice in the media and lecture circuit from a inane buzz to the screaming roar of a Ferrari or shepherding your customer (internal or external depends which side of the table you are sat) from the mind-numbing terrors and traps in the media, triggering a turbo boost for your spokesperson in terms of messaging uptake and effectiveness, is what this post is about.

Firstly, an inability or fear of dealing with the media due to a past bad experience can make efforts hard or non-starters. Media Relations is an art that requires constant practice, the ride comes with bumps and smooth stretches, sporadic crises thrown in for spice. You give, you get, but you always talk! There is media out there that is out to trick you out, will they hesitate to rubbish your carefully build reputation for an exclusive? Absolutely not for a second! Can PR change the game for your business? Absolutely yes! Good comes with the bad, package deal like with most things in life. If you are going to get anywhere, you need to get started! Tell them like it is, chances are that they take risks in business everyday and will grow into the act with a little hand holding from you, the specialist!

Secondly, there is a clique out there as in most other domains, these ‘usual suspects’ then pretty much control the share of voice in the media, and this maybe specific to a beat. The media is most times too lazy to do any hard digging when mapping a business space and again relies on the ‘usual suspects’, who maybe be convenient darling MDs, CEOs and other assorted rabble rousers. Awards: every publication and their mother has an award stacked with their favourites, breaking into this game needs perseverance, a nose for ‘distress sales’, finally being able to work the apex bodies like CII, FICCI, NASSCOM, etc, for advocacy and influencer relations.

Third and last here, is clearly a lack of process internally at the client organisation be it in terms of communication superstructure, even if one does exist, its ability to deliver strategic advice to management may be suspect in hierarchy driven situations or where communicators are too junior to be taken seriously. Some people use external consultants to tell them what is known already as it brings a credibility they lack.

Anyone can tell you that game changing maneuvers are few and far in between as stereotypes and ’safe’ options abound but if you as a PR professional were ever able to affect changes that made a company’s perception congruent with its performance as benchmarked against its peers, then you indeed deserve to be in the hall of fame. If commitment is your destiny and you can help tell a story that is true and ethical but inconvenient, then you are indeed one lucky person!

We need our heroes just like we need our war stories to feel good about the tribe and what it does, so come on give!

Garbage In; Garbage Out - A Contrarian View on PR Agencies in India

2008-03-07T12:36:00.002+05:30

I am a little tired of rants including mine so here is a contrarian view, as you can see I do this contrarian thing quite well (or badly depending on your world view today). This post originally started as a comment and as it grew embarrassingly large, I decided to actually graduate this to a post instead of the original comment it was meant to be!

Client and PR relationships are like marriages, they feud, but can"t stay without each other and more or less work out if both parties give it a half decent shot. There are exceptions on both ends and so let's not go there today for the sake of the majority. On the specific question of clients not paying or paying too less or other grouses, I see essentially see this phenomenon in two parts.

Product or Services Differentiation

Firstly, it is an ability to differentiate your self in positioning. The PR Firm market has been a commodity market for the longest time with no entry barriers for hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop shows. I saw this happening 10 years ago and today is no different. There is room for both and it is good that entrepreneurship is still a possibility in the market place. What is the big difference in working for the big 5 PR Firms in the country (if you can actually figure out ever who they are by number of people employed or revenue in a transparent fashion, beyond claims) and the home office 2-3 people outfit, one can argue. I am sure there are a lot of differences in offering and durability in time of intense attrition but we who profess to be champions of branding do a rubbish job of its when it involves our own brand characteristics and touch points across websites, corporate identity markers from business cards to collateral branding including electronic collateral like the microsoft power point, the one leg of the one legged, PR Industry are all pretty crap.

How many people can recall different practices in a large popular PR Agency unless they happen to be a specialist firm? If I take names I will be slaughtered as these are all friends, colleagues, ex-colleagues, so I'll be prudent and duck my tail in on that but there are no many opportunities lost because no one in the leadership is really thinking about it beyond lip service and also-ran measures. Practice differentiation is not something just to do as a business whenever a fat client with a fat retainer demands it or when a projects to a reusable solution offering. It too needs the branding and marketing that will differentiate it as an offering and help you charge a premium for the effort in doing so.

Text 100 first changed the retainer landscape in the country in late 1990s with retainer values far in excess of what was then 'going price' for retainers in the Tech PR game at least. Again without taking names, there were enough nay sayers who never thought such retainers were possible or rated the survival chances of Text 100 in India. When the dust settled, history had been made with the Microsoft Account and there were many red faces. To be fair Text 100 came with an international mandates, best practices, processes but whatever local clients they picked up too came at larger retainers.

They were leaps and bounds ahead in differentiation, branding, positioning, and clients loved them and paid too. This gave hope and eventually benefited so many other legacy PR Firms who over a period of time started to attain similar retainer values because they moved up the value chain and comparing. This is when they had all along been largely sedentary about the possibility of a retainer being more than a lakh or two. There are many other examples of large retainers in Automotive, Financial Services, and Real Estate etc.

Let's talk for a minute about the client perspective here. What clients complain about is a lack of employee stickiness and just getting legs and no brains when they employ a PR Firm. If you sit on the client side which I have many times with multiple PR Agencies, these issues become important, so there are two sides to this coin! Don't kick what you eat as there is seldom a one sided argument and there is no smoke without a fire!

So it isn’t like clients don’t pay. If you think you have an offering that deserves more (and good old vanilla media relations ain't going to hack it partner) Pitch it right, be bold, be brave, and state your value proposition up front, brand your offering and you can get away with a screamer for a retainer!

Lack of Employee Stickiness and Intellectual Capital Capture in Public Relations Firms

The second important aspect one would do well to consider here involves employee longevity. Measures that arrest attrition including real dedication to employee training, specialization in vertical or horizontal practices, succession planning and an ability to see the next step-on-the-ladder.

There are philosophical and conceptual question there - what profitability are you after in terms of a gross margin is something that needs to examined in the interest of growth and scaling up. 'Reverse price arbitrage', this time in favor of employees and an inconvenient analysis of employee cost-to-company, as compared to retainers will show the employee wage bill as a percentage of revenue. What an owner, or promoter forsakes in terms of pay and work environment can only be good for the business but it is a question of rationale and greed. I have seen many owners and promoters lash out about a lack of loyalty and commitment in employees while they themselves have zero empathy in return. Why is loyalty and commitment only an attribute expected of the employee and not the employer? If you want your people to stay please take care of them, treat them like individuals with aspirations and pay them right! Pay peanuts get monkeys - sound familiar?

So that is what I meant by garbage in- garbage out. Although there are good things happening out there in pockets, I am inherently in love with the idea of a consolidation based on market and supply dynamics, big names with standard global practices coming in can only mean better things for the industry and things moving to a new equilibrium.

The culture of crony PR firm associations has no done anything for the Industry or maybe I have not seen it and inconvenient issues never surface as these may not be in the best interest of constituents.

Let us embrace change and not stay shackled to the hackneyed tenets of a accidental birth, as India moves into the spotlight with its integration with the world economy, the future is bright for all of us!

Is Web 2.0 becoming Bubble 2.0; Social Networking becoming Social Notworking?

2008-02-29T12:23:00.001+05:30

After doing battle with scaremongering for the last couple of posts, here's me wimping out and spinning my own doomsday special for you. Unusually I have had more than enough sleep so this is not sleep deprivation either. The media is awash with the Union Budget news and I don't seem to agree with anything that is being sold by various economists, interest groups, lobbyists and politicians. As is won't, this promises to be an election budget with populist measures that will whittle away tax payers money (yes this usually represents a third of your income on the pay slip!) in rubbish schemes but nothing can make me unhappy today. I am surprisingly happy considering the fact that there is really no good news!

So to the topic of my post: Is Web 2.0 becoming Bubble 2.0 and Social Networking becoming Social Notworking (sic)? If you've been around as long as I have, you've probably seen the internet bubble of 2000 and its crazy outlandish pony tail visage. Funny part is, nothing was too freak or outlandish to pitch for a business plan if it included a website in it. The market was awash with venture capital dollars and run rate or burn rate were common place terms in those circles. Not much survived that era and the remnants of this internet bubble largesse did not last.

When Google bought a loss making YouTube for USD 1.65 Billion, followed by the crazy valuations at facebook.com and myspace.com, and a seemingly crazier bid of USD 47 Billion by Microsoft for Yahoo, I knew that Free is Back! Recently AOL decided to offer free e-mail, with many free goodies including XM Radio, Anti Virus, 5 Gig online storage, etc, etc. Incidentally the poor cousin Indian version of AOL does not offer these!

There is more bad news on the horizon as Google stock fell 38 per cent on a report by comscore that AD clicks on Google had been flat in the month of January as compared to last year. This was widely reported across the world and created tremors that were felt far away from its epicentre.

Facebook has recently retreated on its aggressive advertising venture known as the Beacon after howls of protest from its subscribers, numbers which incidentally for the first time started to plateau. Google similarly is showing signs of a slow down. All this coupled with the strong privacy issues that have plagued all large players in the social networking are really a cause for worry where the future of the web 2.0 is concerned.

The benefits that it has bought to the enterprise business in terms of collaboration tools like blogs, widgets, twitters and IM as a result of user generated content can not be ignored but at the same time the impact of social networking has been minimal besides online advertising. This is even more pronounced in India due our insulation from the west both in terms of cultural differences and internet infrastructure bottlenecks across 3G spectrum as well as simple broadband. What it can do is hopelessly mix up your personal and professional life and inadvertently give access to people about your personal information, which you'd much rather keep to yourself and your social ilk.

The other is the time spent wasting company resources while on the job doing what is popularly being referred to as social NOTworking! This is a real concern as, while many managements have draconian solutions but it is important for all CIOs and CTOs to consider how much of the technology and infrastructure that they provide is actual used by employees, and how much is in the nature of freeware which certainly brings a lot of productivity to the enterprise including web based e-mail, instant messaging services as well as social networking tools.

Back into the PR paddock in India, I would love to hear from PR Firms who actually have a social media list they actively use, and dedicated resources who are real practitioners, with real customers without getting my bullshit meter in the red.

If you are bleeding from the budget take hope and have a great weekend!

NASSCOM 2008: The IT Industry Does Some Great PR for itself!

2008-02-21T20:22:00.003+05:30

Last week it was time for my ritual yearly pilgrimage to the Mecca of the IT Industry, I am referring to NASSCOM India Leadership Forum, 2008. It was a time of meeting people, some of the faces were old and some were new but the excitement was all very palpable. You can access the NASSCOM 2008 Blog here.

As is the norm, there was a rash of media in attendance to glean updates of Industry biggies both Indian and MNC. This year was big from many perspectives and saw the attendance from the likes of Ginni Rometty from IBM Global Services and Steve Rohleder, COO of Accenture.

NASSCOM has had biggies before but this year was different for its eclectic mix of politicians like a budding Congress leader Sachin Pilot, Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel as well Minister for IT & Telecom, Raja. It also had top industrialists like the Harvard educated and always immaculately dressed Anand Mahindra and the scion of the Bajaj family, the very suave Rajiv Bajaj. It was also different because there was less rhetoric and more realism in terms of the stock taking and the way forward as well as some plainspeak instead of the usual geek festival technobable.

The PR consultants as well as their Corporate Communications and Marketing handlers were out in a full out display of strength as they silent worked the lunches, dinners and networking sessions positioning their spokespeople, their brands in all myriad and clever ways possible.

All is well with the IT Industry despite the doomsayers, the projections are hot, traction is back 2 quarters down and Hewitt and Watson Wyatt are hooting salary increases from rooftops and I am loving it as I cock a snook to many in the media, the Industry, as well as peers who cried wolf. If anything, the sub-prime meltdown will bring in more business for Indian outsourcing industry! All is well indeed and I am loving it!

Days of Information Overload & Insight Scarcity - Crack Research Tools for PR Commandos!

2008-02-07T23:40:00.000+05:30

Militant as I sound, it must be the general pall of slow down in Bombay, IPOs tanking, doomsayers with the recession din, the taxi strike, the weather, and the general non happenings of the week.

The only things that I am a little excited about are some tools for research that I have had a chance to play with recently. These have long been used international PR firms and it is quite interesting to to see their slow acceptance and investment in these tools by Indian PR firms too.

We live in a world of Information Overload and Insight Scarcity. Have you ever wondered when a 26-year old from a management consulting company presents at an industry forum, leaving everyone spell bound by trends and the insight he or she spouts? Similarly how investment banking professionals get the detailed information to discover synergies that decide when to merge and acquire companies, or top Sales people to design and sell solutions for their customers? These are the tools that leading professionals use to know about their customers, markets and industry in real time!

I don’t have the time!

In the PR business, whether it is preparing for a meeting with your client; writing a new business pitch or presentation, or writing a pitch note for the journalist, there is always a chronic shortage of time. In a landscape dotted with delivery milestones, reviews, internal processes and various other mundane activities that are urgent but not important these reserach tools come really handy. They help save time in searching for information, time which is then saved for analyzing and surfacing insight to finally arrive at a positioning statement or stance in the media. It further helps do a snapshot of where a client is at, and where he aspires to be in terms of peer group companies and competition. If you have the first two licked, finding a workable communication strategy to reach these objectives finally comes on the horizon.

What is required is actionable intelligence to optimize your communications strategy, this intelligence today is not just about the good old print medium but requires media analysis across traditional and social media. The ability to benchmark competitors, find PR weak spots, defining focus areas-which sectors, which markets? Finally an ability to track the drivers of your clients’ corporate reputation!

I am referring to the information databases, news aggregators and news wires, prominent among which is Factiva, a tool that is an effective news aggregator and search tool. Besides the latest news on a Company or topic that you may be researching across sources of media reporting on a company or topic, the issues at hand, stick price changes, key executives and a lot of other information it would take you weeks to gather from multiple sources. In addition, Factiva has something known as Search 2.0 that throws up graphs and through other pictorial visualization tools like heat maps really useful to depict trends. Trends that can help you understand the success of your PR campaign; the effectiveness of your spokesperson and measure your success to show bang for the buck!

There are others such as Datamonitor, Hoovers which are again general business research tools. In addition, you will discover deep dive tools for different domains such as a Gartner, Forrester, IDC, for Information Technology, and Ovum for Telecom related information. Similarly for information of a financial nature there are tools like a Dow Jones, Reuters Knowledge, Thomson Financials, and Bloomberg. I can go on and on but will close here to say that there are best-in-breed research tools out there for pretty much most domains and these can change you life if your information needs are critical for your business decision making and survival in reputation management.

In a time often replete with 25 hour work days; these tools help you climb a growth curve which would be pretty much uphill if not impossible as a PR professional, without the help of these tools. In these days of consolidation in the PR space, it may well prove the magic bullet to enable the local tigers and independents to hold their own as they scale up the ladder to compete with their MNC peers who are old users of these tools.

The challenges in adoption are of overcoming inertia and building a research-based PR culture besides of course having some bean counter sign a cheque. Mind you some of these databases do not come cheap but the benefits in time saved and the value of the information that news aggregators provide, more than justifies the investment.

The information age is here and the question is does your organization have an information strategy and tools to take the next big leap?

Specialist vs. Generalist PR, Independent vs. Global Network Player, Consolidation Imminent for the Indian PR Industry!

2008-02-01T02:18:00.000+05:30

This post seeks to address the genesis of PR Firms in India, their move towards specialization, and then back towards a generalist positioning. It further seeks to explore the interrelationship between global and organic Indian outfits and motives for their speedy polymerization. Finally it seeks to draw parallels in trends between the state of the Global PR business and a growing similarity in the Indian PR Industry.

Most Indian PR Firms first cracked on the scene somewhere between the late 1980s and early 1990s, which I really see as the time when Public Relations consulting evolved somewhat from cult led spin-doctors to consulting organizations. I employ the caveat, somewhat, because even today many if not most continue to have a similar architecture, with a single personality or two providing the thought leadership, most of the others never really making it beyond middle or senior management, till they either decided to start their own little PR Firm! Those were the days of IPAN, Good Relations, and Genesis (Now Genesis BM ) to name a few, as they were very few. Some of these are still around, some with international affiliations and some with name changes after being acquired but do they remain the gorilla on the hill? I think not!

Here again, while we are on the topic of genesis, it is important to separate the also-rans from the connoisseurs. Disregarding honorable exceptions on both ends, on a general cliché, stand-alone PR Firms, grew organically, built scale and proliferated, while the PR’ divisions and the PR’ arms, mostly of advertising networks or agencies took a step forward and two backward, mostly playing a game of snakes and ladders. Evolution does strange things and many organizations that were once infallible are today extinct or alive in a dysfunctional sort of way, impossible if not hard to imagine back then.

Specializations are a factor of consolidation and pretty much follow the need for differentiation and domain expertise. At different points of time in the evolution of the PR story in India, tangents have proliferated in the form of Technology PR, Financial PR, Corporate Affairs, CSR, University PR, ‘this & that’ PR, etc. Have these always been deliberate attempts or single projects turning into templates that gave the financial logic of a practice or a critical mass that justified a specialist structure? There have been so many instances that have polled for or against the trend so the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The question in my mind really is what works best in the long-term, a generalist approach, or the specialist path? While I have had the good fortune to work for both specialists like Text 100 and 2020 Media, I have also witnessed their forays into the non-tech arena, the former through a proxy agency called Vox PR and the latter directly, when generalists started to eat their lunch. The smaller reasons for this were various including client business conflict, retainer pricing, and sometimes plain ego clashes. The positioning conundrum clearly follows the way of the market shift. The shift has not been smooth, some may call them works in progress, others a fear of losing what they already have in existing clients due to an apparent positioning preference as opposed to other client portfolios that they desire.

There are of course international specialist PR brands that have come in and opened their doors for business to get a piece of the action like APCO, Lewis PR, but for every specialist, there are an equal number of generalists rushing in with names like Fleishman Hillard, Brodeur, Manning Selvage & Lee and scores of others.

Interestingly one space that has stayed relatively virgin is the Financial PR marketplace with a few like Adfactors PR which have stayed ahead of the game and hedged their bets in other specializations while clearly holding on to a very lucrative Financial PR (read IPOs) pie. Others in the game include names like Concept PR, Pressman PR and the Financial PR practices in some of the larger generalists but with a low critical mass as a part of their revenue base. This remains one of the most lucrative spaces in Indian PR and already there are overtures from many international PR firms that work the Financial PR or Investor Relations space for a piece of the action. I know that they are biting at the hooves and I’d just love any M&A gossip there!

While specialists and generalists keep moving towards each other in shenanigans that defy logic, in the final analysis with a few exceptions, most home grown specialist outfits may or may not last long. Large global mandates will force an ongoing consolidation as the Indian PR Industry becomes pregnant with the FII money and the burgeoning weight of its booming middle class marketplace.

The Holmes Report makes for great reading for those interested in delving deeper into the holding patterns, revenues, market statistics and other insights into the global PR business. It is interesting to note that globally a majority of PR firms are controlled by 4 holding companies or networks: Omnicom, WPP, Interpublic, and Publicis.

Either which way the Indian PR Industry cookie crumbles, the traditional approach of developing a specialization to carve the melon will increasingly become harder as entry barriers to opening up or sustaining organic PR shops will get way higher than they used to be for the last decade or two. PR Firms that have shown amazing organic growth in the comparative short term like a Vaishnavi will become rarer. Independent firms of course remain more than capable of competing with network players for clients, both network clients or restricted to geographic location.

The Indian PR Industry soon promises to map the global PR Industry, and while a consolidation is imminent, all that is open to debate is the when and at what valuation. While isolated accounts may remain in silos but clearly the end of cult and personality led PR is around the corner. In all this mayhem, the largest benefactor is not a single entity; the entrepreneurs have their happy exits, the employees-growth, while slowly but surely the fight is hotting up for the Indian PR market pie and it’s time for the big guns to battle! These remain exciting times and all this can only mean more professionalism and better prospects for the Indian PR Industry: The King is dead, long live the King!

Smoking is making the Indian PR Workplace Unhealthy and Unproductive!

2008-01-25T02:53:00.000+05:30

This afternoon at lunch, I could not help sporadically eavesdropping into a conversation between two girls sat at lunch, at a table adjacent to mine, in a restaurant in downtown Fort that I tend to frequent for mid-week inspiration. I didn't really intend to but the profanities yelled on the cellphone and the incessant chain smoking made for distraction and so did their loud chatter; of course they were from a PR Firm. As I sat there pretending to eat, mostly I gleaned involuntary knowledge and smoke from the poison duo.

It took me back in time, to a not so distant period of time when I yet smoked, spoke loudly on my cellphone in public, I suspect my language is still peppered with the occasional swearing but I guess being put on a spot so often has made me a little more careful, a wisdom that springs from being toast. Now that I have quit smoking, on my third attempt that is, I realize how offensive smoking can be others in an ambient public environment.

Coming in to work and departing most days, I see young executives, fresh of the pan, with their flash MBAs and shiny diplomas, these ostensibly outstanding people, so sorted in their heads otherwise with ambition written large on their confident faces, strangely gathered in stairways, flicking ash from their cigarettes in these dirty ghettos, soaking in a perverse bond of cheap cigarettes, and an angst borne of real, apparent and sometimes imagined grouses. Across the world, young people and some times not so young people, with their heads screwed on the right way, when measured in all other criteria, seem so strangely out of character as they brave rain, bone numbing wind, searing heat, humidity and other adversity to waste their time in stairwells, street corners and other dives of the corporate underbelly, hooked to that nicotine fix.

It often confounds me on why they just hang around sucking cancer sticks as time ticks and deadlines bomb all around them. It is beyond reason why they are not in any rush to get home to spend time with a loved one or get a life and do whatever it is that PR consultants do beyond running the corporate rat race. This yoyo act of the pilgrimage to and fro from the dive to the desk and back continues till late afternoon at which point in the script the reality of the days' unshakable deliveries starts to become rather stark. This then produces a frenzied nightmare where work gets produced in bum rush fashion; an output that is mostly shoddy and of piss poor quality. The mute look of incomprehension on the faces of most client servicing and account management types (we seem to share this fraternity with other brethren in advertising and market research) when a client yells their tonsils off, is sometimes in my mind directly attributable to smoking and I am not talking about smoking anything beyond tobacco!

I have often wondered in amazement at how information aggregators like Factiva from Dow Jones have used the time saved in research multiplied by cost of executive time to show savings to an organization. In a similar fashion, the cost of an executive smoking multiplied by what he or she bills per hour, wasted in this mindless pursuit, I am sure will produce some pretty damning statistics. Continuing in this direction, I am wondering if Covey ever realised the big impact this activity would have on his quadrant of time management for effective people. He did capture some other low hanging fruit like gossip, trivia, being busy doing nothing, etc.

Although the dangers of tobacco use have been recognized for over half a century, and in an increasing number of countries have resulted in the banning of smoking in enclosed spaces, I want take a minute and talk about the costs to health due to smoking both physical and psychological from nicotine dependence, including its contributing to burn out and general depression. The costs in quitting are also not insignificant.

Smokers who have attempted and failed to quit will agree, will power; by itself is often not sufficient and smoking cessation aids are often needed. Estimated to be worth just $213 million 2006, according to a new report from independent market analyst Datamonitor, the prescription nicotine dependence market is set to grow strongly at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16% to reach $4.6 billion by 2016. Nicotine dependence continues to represent a serious public health problem. Indeed, smoking is a major contributor to illnesses such as lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease and stroke, and is one of the world’s leading causes of preventable death.

Datamonitor estimates that nicotine dependence affects almost 116 million individuals across the seven major markets (7MM) – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, UK and US – in 2007, says Datamonitor central nervous system (CNS) analyst Charlotte Mackey. “Despite the currently high prevalence of nicotine dependence, evidence suggests that only a small proportion of individuals actively seek help from their primary care physician (PCP).” Imagine the statistics, in India, in proportion, if the US and most of Europe account for 116 million people! The adoption of nicotine patches is unheard of in India and I can"t begin to think of anyone consulting their doctor if they wanted to quit. The corresponding costs in healthcare that the smoking pandemic in India will cause in the immediate future makes me shudder!

Traditionally, January is the time of the year a lot of people resolve to quit smoking. I know it can be done as I finally managed to do it an year ago after 2 previous failed attempts, so can you; in the process saving yourself a lot of agony, time, money and health related problems, besides mitigating your colleagues, friends, family and loved ones from passive smoking. I have no doubt that it will also boost your avenues as a more effective and successful PR Professional by far, so quit now while you are ahead!

Indian Automobile Marketing Gravy Train; Where's PR in The Game?

2008-01-17T23:21:00.000+05:30

I am writing this fresh from my trip to the Auto Expo 2007 in New Delhi, and what a trip it turned out to be! New Delhi in all its winter glory, the excitement in the air made it easy to ignore the traffic nightmare and the smog.

The parties, the awards, the models and the car models all made for a very heady trip.

Tempted as I am to offer my opinion about the Nano, all I can proffer is that while it might be great PR for a prototype to get such turgid hype, I'd much rather reserve my comment when hype translates into sales as and when the rubber hits the road, one lakh or not.
What I am not going to do is plug for the automobile manufacturers and their new models as that has been done to death but instead talk about the hype surrounding the automobile industry and the mechanics of its construct.

The key orchestrators of this construct are the usual suspects, yes, the marketing types who practice every well honed trick in the book for eyeballs with their bevy of deep pockets that fund the PR Firms, Advertising Agencies, Event Managers and Celebrities, Models and what have you. They all play their roles in producing the apparition that makes people buy things they don't really need.

The role of PR Firms in influencing the emotional decision that is the trigger for writing that fat cheque by a consumer seems a bit suspect to me, yes even now!

The PR firm toolkit has remained stuck in time with the usual boring repository of junkets, sordid and dry press releases, press conferences where the sole purpose of the PR Firm is to corrall the hapless media. Where they don't get to sit in is at the board table where such nuanced finery as positioning and strategy gets perfected and agreed to.

This also then directly affects the apportioning of the windfall of budgets that the Automobile marketing is suddenly turning into a gravy train making several vendors really rich. The lions share has gone to advertising and event management agencies, round one to advertising, will PR ever get there? To be fair the show saw some pretty global standards in production values, professionalism and exhibition design. The show gets bigger every year and the participant list includes most global Automobile manufacturers which till recently ignored the Delhi Auto Show.

The Auto journalist who was up until now a largely ignored breed of animal suddenly finds a rush of demand for their tribe with the ferocious proliferation of automobile programming and content in print, online as well as television. This in turn has raised egos, not to mention salaries and designations all around. After being on the pasture so long, who can grudge them their riches? Their open contempt for all people in PR firms sometimes mimics that of page 3 and celebrity hacks but the mutual greed facilitates an uneasy truce given to sporadic bouts of grief and blind rage on both sides. Marriages made in hell but marriages all right.

Having said that, the Automobile media have played to the gallery too, and one rarely sees an inconvenient story. This crony game is bad for the consumer at the end of the day as it allows for the machinations of the marketeer to succeed regardless of the quality of their product and the veracity of their claims. There are no rules for accepting largesse or junkets and the results are all around us to see in print, TV and online.

From a time when the Autocarindia magazine constituted automobile journalism and a couple of other old fogey aristocratic pretenders, the names of whom I dare not take, today's Automobile journalism space somewhat resembles the Telecom spectrum rush!

There is a rush of magazines some with foreign labels, from a couple of television shows the canvas has exploded with every channel now offering mandatory Auto programming. This has gone one step further with the hype of live Auto Industry Awards: CNBC AutoCar, NDTV Car& Bike, Overdive, Business Standard Motoring, everyone and their mum now has an award. While the awards have been there for sometime but their use to buttress claims in full page advertisements are something new to this game. The dawn of the age of automobile consumerism has finally hit India.

So back to my point on what PR Firms are not doing to get their place on the gravy train. Garbage in; garbage out is a favourite saying and someone, somewhere needs to make an effort to learn more about the Automobile domain, schlep with the domain experts and make that investment of time, money and effort so that they can make sense of what is going on around them. Taking the time to research a brief is what the advertising boys have done right and now they are tasting that sweet billing. If you do your math right, a quick comparison between a full page advertisement or a 30 second commercial on prime time TV to what a PR Firm will average as a retainer billing for a month, the writing is on the wall. Right now domain expertise in PR Firms is confined to reeling off relationships with key Automobile media!

Top 5 Predictions for Indian PR Firms in 2008

2008-01-02T23:35:00.000+05:30

These are heady days. As India moves forward with a constant surge, it’s pretty much never say never; be it the stock markets; the string of acquisitions hitherto thought of as impossible. Clearly it is a time for innovation led consolidation.

The PR business as a microcosm of Industry and it too has had its share of innovation led consolidation too, and among the other notables have been a string of acquisitions, the latest being of Hanmer by Publicis. Things in general have been good with the entry of several brands as well as value corrections in revenues for most major firms or networks for existing business.

2007 was a year of slow tectonic change, 2008 promises to have far greater velocity and the trends point to some trends that would go down as big shifts in my opinion:

A Holistic Brand Experience Inclusive of Web 2.0 & Social Media Properties

Social Media in India has been a long time in the coming and 2008 will see a greater adoption of the social media and the whole web 2.0 space not just by PR Firms but also its use in a integrated marketing tool kit, using a combination of online PR / Advertising, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for a holistic brand experience that will use both traditional media as well as new media. What does this mean? Simply that, just like we have had domain specialists with financial, investor relations, issue based and other specialist skills, in a similar fashion, online and social media skills will become more mainstream as must-have necessities and not as isolated asks. You can look at the Le Web 3 conference online to look at the plethora of applications and paradigms in Social Media evolution so far.

Larger Offering Differentiation

Vanilla Media Relations serves as the mainstay for the PR business but over the year it has steadily devalued both in terms of revenue as well as in its effectiveness to be the answer to different communications problems. This commoditization has led to a desire for offering differentiation to go up the value chain in terms of dealing with complexities as well as higher paid quality work. Investor Relations, Government Relations, Corporate Affairs, Corporate Social Responsibility, Employer Branding are all different offerings that will find higher definition and better honing as practices.

2008 to be the year of Telecom & Auto

As India moves towards hectic telecom consolidation and the spectrum war gobbles up space in the media, this will mean an increase in specialisation by PR Firms. Similarly the small car explosion that is going to hit us in 2008 only will means higher levels of specialisation in Automotive Industry as a domain. The stakes are large and so are the budgets. Retail on the other hand has simmered, petered out and then simmered again, so the jury is still out on that front.

IT and IT Services to Stay Prominent

This space will continue to bring in good results and PR promises to be a tool of choice much more than traditional media. The BPO and IT Services business has weathered several storms and yet come out on top every time. The desire for brand differentiation has pushed many of the brands in this space including TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, and Wipro into running large branding campaigns. This is the fight for mind space both for business as well as talent where the competitors include the likes of IBM, Accenture, EDS, Deloitte, and Capgemini.

Emphasis on the Environment

Global warming seems to finally have arrived on the scene in the media and the din is getting louder. Everyone is talking green and hybrids are being talked of in a car market that has yet to get the basics of ABS and Safety equipment like air bags as standard fitment for most manufacturers selling in India. The Reva continues to survive as a green brand and even has export ambitions. Plastic bags are banned with lesser resistance and effluent treatment and water pollution have becoming real issues. As the glaciers melt, Tsunami’s strike and our carbon footprint becomes increasingly menacing, I don’t think it’s a year too early!

Finally, it promises to be one hell of a year to start your own business or company as people lose patience with traditional mindsets and opportunities explode. There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur since the dot com bust. Happy New Year!

Policing The Media; Is Regulation Required Or Is It Another Retrograde Attempt To Muzzle The Freedom Of The Press?

2007-12-19T21:54:00.000+05:30

At a time when the India Media is racing ahead and projected to growing faster than the Indian GDP, as much as twice in some recent reports, our world suddenly seems on fire with the news that Indian media stings may soon require oversight to determine if such a sting is indeed in public interest as well as being able to stand true on the test of entrapment.

The venerable Delhi High Court was rancid when it asked whether the media was carrying out sting operations or ‘stinking operations’.

The state of affairs has come to such a pass that in disposing off a petition on the now infamous sting telecast by private TV news channel in August, the court suggested that the information and broadcasting ministry constitute a three-member committee and all TV channels should seek permission from it before airing any sting operation. The suggested panel is proposed to have a retired high court judge and two officials with the ranks of additional secretary and additional commissioner of police. The dubious sting purportedly showing a New Delhi schoolteacher, Uma Khurana forcing a girl student into prostitution. Police investigations subsequently found that the footage was doctored and the teacher was innocent. The bench further gave its nod to Khurana to take action against the channel or claim compensation.

The Broadcasting Bill has been hanging fire for the longest time due to a lack of consensus between the position of the government and media houses. The Information and Broadcasting Minister has now set 2008 as the year for the finalisation of the Bill but not before taking a dig at the Media Industry at large for the state of affairs. "We have delayed the process of introducing the Bill as big corporate houses are opposing it. They (corporate houses) like to have court directives rather than listening to the government," the Minister said recently on the sidelines of an Assocham event. The truth is a grey line somewhere between large corporate media house interests and draconian socialism era censorship!

The accusations of polarised coverage across Tehelka, Nandigram, Gujarat and Modi, fly thick and fast day-in, day-out. Defense scams, Bofors, Quattrochi, the list goes on and on. The usual suspects who orchestrate this anarchy include favorites like political parties as seen in Nandigram, West Bengal, Gujarat Elections. Another large arena for inflicting this perfidy on the media is reserved for large business houses using the media in a no-holds barred skirmishing that goes on against business competition. The spectrum war in the Indian telecom industry and the reams of newsprint in its wake, the footage it has consumed on television, and cyberspace it has consumed online is mammoth by any standards.

With some perversity, I am sure that these translate to trophies that take the place of pride in many a spin doctors' hall-of-fame. It would be a coup some will gloat on if they could pull off such an act of effective spin and propaganda. Maybe I live in a world of conspiracies and I see too many films and interest groups that go by such affable terms such as a corporate affairs, advocacy, PR Firms are all benign upstanding citizens. While we can blame the corporates and politicians, where does the Media stand in all this blame game?

While there will always be competing interests who will try their luck and they should, the questions that sits uneasy in my head is where is the sense of editorial balance? Who decides what story can run and what value system underlies this often intangible and grey art of practicing editorial discretion?

How many times have we all witnessed the blatant lies and falsehoods, how many times have we seen one-minute 'microwave judgments' by anchors and reporters of questionable or no intellect and cringed in despair at issues slammed without hope of recourse or apology. The broadcast media has seen such cut throat competition that all but a few firmly grounded channels have turned to sensationalism and made a mockery of the news domain, similar trends have been seen in mainline publications and the online world too.

This is our world; a world made of many conflicting microcosms and yet the show must go and we must find a way, not the Putin way or the Western way, and certainly not the Pakistani way but an Indian way forward for the show must go on without aberrations where the media retains its place as a guardian of our democracy and a conscience in times of weakness and chaos.

What can you and I do in our own small way to aware and then maybe spread an awareness of the issue at hand so we as communicator and marketeers help support and build a better Media; a tomorrow built on a foundation of balance, integrity, justice and merit. Brick bats and accolades bring them on, all welcome!

Buy side or sell side; Doer or Make Doer, where's the game?

2007-12-13T13:49:00.000+05:30

The weather in Mumbai or Bombay as I tend to yet and maybe always will refer to it is amazing. For those interested in the weather, the best time to be here is from November through February.

As I look outside the window, around me the madness continues. No one has noticed the weather. When I moved back to Bombay, my adopted home from Bangalore earlier this year, the weather was the last thing on my mind. The excitement of the rubber hitting the road again in a sell side assignment is what was floating my boat. That the traffic in Bangalore is arguably and notionally more crap may have entered my mind.

Where am I taking you with this? Well, simply: Where would I rather work today, Agency or Client? For years, it has been the path of exodus from PR or Advertising or other MarComms agencies to Client or Buy side roles. Traditional wisdom seems to suggest that moving to a client role has been the staple ambition of most communications or marketing interns, a larger aspiration seemingly bordering on the infinite.

This traditional wisdom translated and still does to considering client side roles as better paying; better working conditions, standard industry best practices in HR and Benefits policy. Salary surveys and this image of the make-doer being higher up the food chain than the doer. Add to that legend, cult chatter and imagined greatness to make a heady mirage of desire and aspiration, to my mind the only other comparable oversold silver bullet solution to bliss is marriage!

So you made it to the buy side with an unbelievable hike. Congratulations. First move, I know what's best, this agency sucks; fire the Agency! One year and two agencies later, all agencies still suck. “My budget is crap, no one understands my vision, and the boss is an idiot". The cycle moves downstream from confusion; frustration; denial; pragmatism; cynical submission and points further. Slowly the cognitive realization of the existence of other traditional company functions like Finance, HR, Corporate Planning & Strategy, Sales, and Quality dawns, besides of course Marketing into which a traditional PR or Communications or MarComms function will report.

If I sense defiance and a few backs getting up already lets up the ante a bit; imagine reporting into Sales or its often interchangeable euphemism - Sales & Marketing or worse HR! Politics assumes a new meaning and such things as annual budgeting (read begging, negotiating, storming out of meetings and sometimes even threatening to leave are usual tricks). Empire building and head count become the corner stones of all calculation!

The news isn't all bad, happy things include a PR Firm to flog (depending on how fat this company is-let us add an advertising agency, a web agency, a media buyer, an investment relations firm and so on) on retainer who you usually never call before 7pm with new requirements to be delivered first thing in the morning. End-of-day (EOD) and close-of-business (COB) and other similar dire abbreviation start peppering your e-mail. The tyrant in you starts to surface and the latent evil becomes apparent. Alarming surveys and such non-issues at most agency jobs such as consumer media preferences in the internet age start factoring on your radar!

So you think you should be one down from the corner room and the place of Communications and PR is at the Board Table along side the CEO or MD, that's good, Bombay weather remains amazing, no one has noticed.

So what’s happened here? From being, ‘the Business’, you have suddenly been relegated to a “Support function”. Yes, you got paid better, probably drive a car now instead of the old faithful motorcycle or a better car if you already had one, and live in a slightly more up market location. You’ve acted wisely, have decided to get married, have a child or two, settled down and become and EMI lifer too, the hours are better, it’s all coming together!

What is this thing that makes agencies more passionate, creative power houses that function on the cutting edge of innovation? I took a call and moved back to the agency end of things, there are good days and there are bad days but I am having a lot of fun...so far that is!

There are arguments for and against and while the jury is out on that one.

I leave it there for you folks to start a debate with your views. I would love to hear what you people out there in the PR Agency or Sell Side/Client or Sell Side or combination thereof in cyberspace think about being a doer or a make doer!

Employer Pet Peeves: An Indian PR Firm Perspective from the Corner Room

2007-12-08T11:43:00.000+05:30

As a sequel to last week's article this week I want to showcase the view from the wrong end or right end of the shotgun barrel, depending on your status in the food chain.In a business, that is slowly maturing there is yet lots of road to travel down the professional path.

The resource crunch pandemic is becoming a reality, as is the case with all other businesses; PR Firm's too like every other enterprise are seeking to keep, up skill and attract new talent!

The above is a regular star in the everyday nightmare of a business leader in a PR Firm.

The other cast include Mergers, buyout led account re-alignment. The loss of people can mean a lost account, worse loss of reputation and making it further harder to retain and hire and get general traction.

Employer pet peeves further include offer letter terrorism. This is any interesting phenomenon that involves swimming the job market and stacking offers. While everyone wants to offer their services at the best price, the mechanics involved include lies and deception.

Confirming a joining date and not showing up isn't a rare occurrence any longer.

The scarcity of trained resources has meant a further acceptance of tantrums, inferior quality of work, poor or non-existent account management and a general atmosphere where tardiness is accepted under threat of separation. Dishonesty and fudging of travel claims, using company infrastructure for personal use including dubious phone calls and other scam mongering.

This means a sense of cynicism and a lack of trust from the employer in turn that finally results in bad culture. A culture where mentoring and employee training evaporates and employers hedge people against each other in expectation of attrition and employee turnover. This leads to a chain reaction where neither can build personal trust and the first casualty is productivity followed by excellence.

The infuriating and myopic inability of account executives and managers to focus on all things financial, including expense claims of agency funds spent for client engagements, project or retainer fee claim delinquency is another big peeve. This impacts cash flows and balance sheet anarchy usually follows. The ensuing chaos can be easily avoided with regular follow ups.

While this may be a two-way street, employees need to bring up their end of the bargain just like employers do if we have to evolve as businesses that can presume integrity and legitimacy.

PR Firms in India; Employee Pet Peeves

2007-11-29T11:47:00.000+05:30

This week I want to talk about state of the PR Firm business.

Are PR Firms people friendly? What are the latest trends in human resource development that qualify for being people friendly and enable organizations to retain and yet allow employees or consultants to be productive, despite challenges of everyday life like large commuting distances, family emergencies, medical exigencies, Maternity or even something as common as burnout!

The record of PR firms in this regard has been rather poor I must confess. The report card on the other side of the table in buy side roles, whether in marketing or communications has not been exactly inspiring either, though there are instances of evolved organizations that have understood the benefits of such policies in retaining talent and keeping rare skills and IP (Intellectual Property) sticky despite the challenges that cycles of life pose to a typical employee. So what are these things that make everyday life easier, yours and mine too?

Telecommuting: This simple means an ability or facility to be able to work from home in times of exigency after an agreement with the concerned manager. This is the hardest to get approved by the way (sic).

Flexi-timing: This could mean timings that beat the traffic or those that suit an individual because of other family or personal commitments like a study program. Non-oppressive dress codes: Even today, I see some pretty strange dress codes that hark back to colonial mindsets or worse those that pander to cult predilections of individuals. This with the background of most PR firms being mostly individual or partner driven can become quite horrendous and a far tangent to the norm, lending to a perverse value set linked to early upbringing.

Without the embarrassment of the getting into these weird instances and details, it may be safe to say that there is no cultural homogeneity in what is the norm. The Individual should be trusted with this personal responsibility and not be subjected to convent and institutional trauma! While there can be no excuse for being slovenly in personal appearance, especially for those that are client facing, mostly we take things too far, far enough for them to becoming oppressive yokes, to the point of qualifying as professional hazards.

Maternity Benefits: These are completely non-standard today, and more often than not discriminate against women in the family way. Yes, we can find someone here or there that has a policy that makes a few concessions. Are these Industry best-practice standard? I definitely don't think so!

Let's begin with simple technology that enables Telecommuting. The advent of the internet has meant an ability to work remote.

While I don't intend for this to become a rant, most PR Firms are so challenged in terms of growing beyond cities that they are headquartered in; the infrastructure they manage to percolate away to branch offices in other cities is rather abysmal. I am talking about the most basic of facilities today that clearly constitute hygiene but strangely still so tough to come by as facilities.

Consider getting a lap top from the organization or even an Internet connection if you have your won machine at home and how tough it is to get the organization to pay for it, getting help to get one installed is fantasy material. The ability to avoid e-mail stress is a major factor in everyone's life today!

How many companies offer a web interface which enables you see mail on the Internet and sets you free from being glued to your desk? Some idiot in IT will find a zillion myopic reasons to scupper your access.

Take it one further into dreamland, those hand-held delights that you have often lusted after like the Blackberry or Windows Mobile beauties are darlings in making life simple, be it e-mail, calendar, to-do's, besides making you look a part of the corporate jet set so that your customer sees you as someone of an equal and a professional. Let's talk a second about conference calling and enabling infrastructure. It does not cost a lot and unless the call is internal most times you may be able to bill clients.

The fact is most old fogies are deeply suspicious of all working from remote and virtual teams are a non-starter. They want to see you in their face, sat in a bivouac around their desk, breathing their crusty, ironed everyday, breath. Other fancy things include server dial-up access, which enables your machine to access files on the network server. Imagine the scope for collaboration.

The inertia to change and imbibe productivity solutions is immense and it would be incomplete to just direct ire in isolation at the IT Idiot. The other hall-of-famer here and most of you will recognize this persona, he or she is the proverbial loyalist, the holier-than-thou, often a combination of Administration, Finance and HR.

There is one other aspect that I'd like to spend some time on. This concerns on-boarding of fresh or lateral talent. It starts with the missing location map on the website, which in most cases was updated last year. Imagine showing up for work and not having a desk, a computer, an e-mail ID, to add insult to injury, have a form to fill thrust in your face with no help in deciphering the officialise. Things like assistance with a bank account; new cell phone; understanding the best way to get to work and finding a place to stay.

Most good organizations fix this one shot with a Mentor program. This person for the initial journey is your survival guide, your friend, philosopher, your lunch menu guide, and a zillion things that are urgent but not important.

I get this constant chatter at Industry events about how attrition and retaining talent are prime concerns. What no one ever mentions is things like the ones above that really help an organisation make its relationship with the employee sticky and fruitful in the long term.

While it is true that people leave for greener pastures and those positions then need to be filled and that is another kind of stress. What are the chances that you will make it hard for people to leave if you have your act in shape and spend some senior management time on mitigating pet peeves.

I know there are instances here and these where pioneering work has happened but as a business and as an industry in the Indian geography we will have crossed another milestone if we got our ducks-in-row on this one!

Next week; Employer pet peeves, watch this space!

SMS text messaging; the next PR, Marketing Campaign Channel?

2007-11-21T10:59:00.000+05:30

There is something happening out there.

SMS or Text Messaging is fast becoming a method of interactive PR and Marketing. The evidence of its popularity is all around but no one has really grasped the significance of this new tool that bridges the online and offline world for consumers. Text messages today can include graphics, video, and the infamous MMS.

So what are the numbers out there today? With a 213 Million mobile subscriber base growing at nearly a million year-on-year as opposed to an abysmal banking penetration of 30 per cent and an internet penetration of 60,000,000 Internet users as of September 2007, 5.3 per cent penetration, as per ITU, and 2,520,000 broadband Internet connections as of September 2007, as per IWS.

Mobile marketing has really been what is know as a 'push' game so far, with an inability to get delivery reports or replies back to a text message. All this is now changing with the technology becoming available to enable 'pull'. The latter really being an ability to link responses to a campaign, thus making for very exciting possibilities.

Internationally, the uses of the sms as a tool are many and some that impressed me most include Televox, Smile Reminder, among many other innovative uses of sms or text messaging.

In India, The traditional use of bulk messaging has been traditionally made by large consumer facing companies in the credit card , DTH, consumer loyalty application, job portal and airline space.
Bulk sms brokers, Google, Service providers include all mobile operators including GSM and CDMA (...and I am going to save the current controversy on 3G spectrum for another post!) who provide short codes such as the ones we sent sms' to for polls and interactive programming on TV etc. A popular show like Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) generated 58 million SMS over a 3 month period.

Some quick and dirty research on the IAMAI portal on statistics and VAS although a little dated was revealing. The companies that own a short code (e.g. 8888, 3456 etc) which is basically sold to a third party client for some keyword, and for a specific period have a tie up with multiple operators to ensure customers of all operators send the SMS to the same number.

There are around 10 national level players and several regional players in this domain. The entry barrier is very high because of high initial deposit and need to tie up with each operator for each individual circle. Our research reveals that most operators also ask for a deposit of Rs 2 million and a minimum guaranteed volume of half a million SMS per month for entering into an arrangement with a Short Code owner.

All this is fast changing with a recent use of mobile marketing as a tool by the Anti Corruption Bureau in Mumbai, India recently. The arrival of mass usage of technology is clearly evidenced when the babudom (India term for the bureaucracy) starts using it.

Like I said above, the trick is to find the technology with the 'pull' factor in addition to the 'push'. Imagine a press briefing where you could in addition to sending an invite to the media; also receive replies back from them via the same short code that could then integrate back into a database, which sent a report with the numbers of invitation deliveries, special requests, confirmations, regrets and so on. Sounds like a boon?

Internationally there are already associations such as the Mobile Marketing Association are the Industry bodies that bring together the myriad parts of this business as well as rules that govern its members. The MMA is a global organization with over 500 members representing over forty countries. MMA members include agencies, advertisers, hand held device manufacturers, carriers and operators, retailers, software providers and service providers, as well as any company focused on the potential of marketing via mobile devices.

We need something similar in India quickly to address the regional topicality of the market. With the new NDNC regime and the added concern for privacy and text messaging spam it will be important to lay down the rules governing mobile advertising and consumer protection guidelines to ensure that the channel does not get embroiled in controversy before maturity so that the full potential of this application can be felt in the market mix. Maybe the IAMAI will address this?

So clearly the time maybe right for a classic disintermediation enterprise, maybe from the VAS space, with both the push and pull aspects of the technology in place, as well as interconnect agreements in place with all GSM and CDMA network operators to offer this as a service.

Imagine a web portal where you can go and pay by a payment gateway, enter your mobile number database, send off a campaign with pre-determined templates, as simple as sending a greeting card! Imagine the ease of an inbox, sent box and a report folder with responses! I know that there are people on the anvil to do this as I write this from a recent visit to Hyderabad, anything beyond which could be violation of the NDA.

It will be interesting for me to see who will be a first mover in the PR business to use this for inviting media to press conferences, stop press notifications and use as a heads up tool. Of course with the opt-in permissions in place to avoid peeving some of the more aggressive journalists as we all have known to at some point!

Note: The author has no stake in the above space!

Getting Traction

2007-11-17T21:35:00.000+05:30

What gives impetus and creates a movement?

For me mostly it has been rejection and being turned away. The strength of the denial is deeply related to the veracity of the idea(s).

Today, it is all about choices still, like it has been for the last 15 years; only confidence is higher and the fear of being who I am has long gone.

So on to destiny it is! Spin IMC touches down again!

Watch this space!

The Sporadic Beginner

2007-02-20T15:09:00.000+05:30

I am back to this...hopefully I will manage to stay this time.

This is a season of many firsts; stopping to smoke, changing jobs, changing cities and most of all changing life!