Monday, September 10, 2012

Rights behind bars

It’s a burning debate across the World – destroy the sin or the sinner? The issue of voting rights for criminals is a key aspect of that debate. The IIPM Think Tank looks at how various countries approach the issue, and why the prisoner-bashing attitude might not be so wise

On the very face of it, you may not even entertain the idea of allowing criminals to decide the political leaders of India. Yet, a common joke about our great nation remains that while lowly criminals get into prison, the really smart ones get into politics! Subsequently, allowing inmates to vote (currently India prohibits voting by inmates) may not affect the composition of our Parliament too much, considering its existing abysmal state. But their exclusion does bring human rights issues to the fore. We analyse how some major countries look at this issue.

First, the Barack country. There is no federal policy with regards to this issue in US. Different states have different laws on the voting rights of their felons. While Maine and Vermont are the only two states that have no restrictions over voting rights of felons, fourteen states including Alabama, Arizona, Florida or Iowa have disenfranchised the voting rights of inmates. The other 34 states follow a somewhat middle path. Interestingly, around 4.7 million inmates, who comprised 2.3% of the total voting age population, didn’t participate in the 2000 Presidential elections due to voting right restrictions.

A particular research on the 2000 Presidential elections by the noted American Political Science Association has revealed some interesting observations. Irrespective of their disenfranchisement, if felons had been allowed to vote, 35% would have voted in the Presidential elections, and out of those, 70% would have voted for the Democrats. Looking at past elections, evidently, this allowance would have altered the results of three close Senate results – Virginia in 1978 (John Warner [R] would have lost over Andrew Miller [D]), Kentucky in 1984 (Mitch McConnell [R] over Walter Huddleston [D]), and Kentucky again in 1998 (Jim Bunning [R] over Scotty Baesler [D]). There was hope for Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election as well, had Florida allowed its 614,000 ex-felons to vote.

Moving on to other countries, the 17 European partners, and countries like Bosnia, Canada, South Africa and Israel allow their felons to vote without any restrictions. But courts can withdraw voting rights for up to five years if need be in Germany. Neighbouring France has similar laws, though it rarely uses them. In contrast, countries like Armenia, Brazil, Chile, India, Portugal, Russia and UK have complete restriction over voting rights of inmates.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, September 08, 2012

European “Dissenting” Union

EU needs to come out with customized solutions for member states

Such mass protests that cut across nations are unprecedented since WW II. But then, in a unified Europe, the recent turn of events shouldn’t be so surprising. The resistance against Europe’s recent austerity drive heightened to the extent that protesters hit the streets across the continent. Among all EU nations, Spain saw the most widespread protests while Brussels saw around 100,000 people going on the streets. Angered by the government’s draconian budget cuts and labour-market overhaul, protestors across the Union disrupted day to day activities. The protest is actually against the governments’ decision to bring deficits under control by cutting public spending. This measure is the last ditch resort by the EU as most investors are denying requests for lending to member nations.

The European Central Bank and Germany are the prime supporters of such measures. Such steps by the EU government seems to have originated from the situation they found themselves in post the recent Greece crisis and the issues the nation faced with maturing debt. But such measures are deteriorating workforce confidence as working class are of the view that they are being penalised for no fault of theirs. In Greece, the protest is chiefly from officials who enjoy special tax free allowances and hefty pensions – not surprisingly, this class is also famous for notable corruption; while in Spain, the public sector trade unions are the main protesters as they would suffer a pay cut and a rise in the legal retirement age. Likewise in Belgium, normal and conventional shop workers are on strike as the government plans to lay-off nearly 2,000 people from stores and depots.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Slum free cities a realty ‘reality’?

While Mumbai, the host to the biggest slum in Asia still has a long way to go before it can become slum free, there are momentous changes that hold the promise of transforming India. B&E meets up with slum Developers, PE investors and of course, the government for an update!  
 
It seems Mumbai’s neighbouring city Pune is all set to religiously win the race to complete slum rehabilitation projects and hand over flats to slum dwellers free-of-cost. While slum dwellers living in Mumbai currently lack the opportunity of owning a 269 sq ft carpet area flat, slum rehabilitation projects are gaining momentum in neighbouring Pune city. There is, in fact, a lot of action taking place in slum rehabilitation in Pune with a host of small and large scale developers bringing out projects with 2 BHK and 1 BHK flats by various regional builders free-of-cost.

For builders developing slum rehabilitation projects in Pune, viability is the biggest challenge for them, opines Lalit Kumar Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Kumar Urban Development Limited (KUL), one of the major slum developers in Pune. “In order to combat the challenge, we are in the process of meeting slum dwellers face-to-face. As part of the agreement process, the proof of their thumb impression, photo identity will be kept with Slum Rehabiliation Association and Seva Kendra people. We will also ensure safety of the slum dwellers by providing them with transit camps till the time project comes up.”

“Our project is aimed at meeting the evolving needs of slum dwellers based on the fact that we have given opportunity to slum dwellers to choose innovative 2BHK uniform flat design of their choice so that 6 to 7 people can be accommodated per flat within the SRA project.” says Jain. A major issue with Pune slum families is that it is the women who contribute to family income by washing utensils and clothes in the middle and upper middle class houses in the area. For the same, builders have charted out plans to set up separate cottage industries for men and women with a corpus to sustain it in the remaining area.

Off late, builders in Mumbai are understood to be making a beeline for developing slum projects in the city. Some of the major factors favouring developers move to slum development projects in Pune are cheap entry capital and too steep clear land costs in Mumbai. “Indiareit is close to investing Rs.20-30 crore in two slum redevelopment projects in the city”, says Ramesh Jogani, MD and CEO of Indiareit Fund Advisors Private Ltd, a private equity fund promoted by Piramal Group Jogani. 

Interestingly, over 100 slum projects are going on in Mumbai currently, involving 2.50 lakh homes. The Union and state governments are aiming for a slum-free Mumbai by 2015. When contacted, S S Zhende, Chief Executive Officer, Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) told B&E, “There is a clutch of new developers who are sending in proposals for slum projects, particularly after the floor space index (FSI) was raised to 3 from 2.5 in such ventures last year. With higher FSIs, firms get additional construction rights for development.” Zhende also credits the high-powered committee formed last year to settle disputes between slum developers and authorities for making the projects more attractive to developers. 


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Could technology be weakening the ability of our minds to learn?

The counter point is that the Internet makes us smarter. Using Google Search to find details or look-up phone numbers on your phone is no different from visiting the library or checking the telephone directory – in effect, these are our ‘extended minds’. This concept was introduced in 1998 by Prof. Andy Clark (University of Edinburgh) and Prof. David Chalmers (Australian National University). Prof. Chalmers provided B&E with an example, “My iPhone is not my tool, or at least it is not wholly my tool. Parts of it have become parts of me. This is the thesis of the extended mind: when parts of the environment are coupled to the brain in the right way, they become parts of the mind.”

A 2008 UCLA survey of adults aged 55 -78 found that just a week of Internet experience enhances brain activity patterns and cognition. Further study shows that Internet research boosts the ability to process information and make decisions. Explains Dr. Teena Moody, of Center for Cognitive Neurosciences at UCLA, “The potential upside, is that even older people can benefit by learning to recruit additional regions of their brains after “Googling” the Internet for a short period of time. Many companies are beginning to exploit this opportunity by developing games to enhance specific aspects of learning.

”It seems the ball is in each of our courts to make the best use of the wealth of information that technology has to offer. Google may happily do the hard work for us, but its value will depend on what we as individuals can bring to the table.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face




Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Forced to go in for C-section deliveries by doctors, women are finding it safer to give birth at home...

Forced to go in for C-section deliveries by doctors, women are finding it safer to give birth at home...

Guneet was lucky to have no complications with her pregnancy, hers was a normal case. She had anticipated a normal delivery, but was in for a rude shock when in the early stages of labour, her doctor told her to go for a Cesarean. She was not even given the chance to attempt giving birth the natural way. Her child is a year old now, but she still experiences pain in her lower abdomen. “I would have preferred to have a normal delivery, but my doctor decided against it,” she whines. For many women like Guneet, the doctor has, unfortunately, had the last word.

Sadly nowadays, most of the hospitals are misleading women to believe that they must undergo a Cesarean surgery regardless of whether there is a medical need for it or not. Statistics highlight the increase in the number of such deliveries. A recent survey revealed that one in three babies in the US are delivered by C-section; it is one in five deliveries in India. Cited among the reasons for this alarming rise is the delay in childbearing by ladies and also increased obesity in moms-to-be. Induced labour is among the main causes of trouble as pointed out by the study. Ladies who delivered via C-section were twice as likely to be among those opting for induced labour, for this is sometimes performed before the cervical dilation progresses to 6 centimeters in diameter. While clinical impatience may be blamed in the above case, several people are also forming the opinion that the surge in C-sections might just be caused by people in the medical profession in a rush to make some easy money.

Unlike any other surgery, in a Cesarean there are chances of the mother contracting infections; healing takes much longer and the surgery could also put her at risk of other long term health hazards. So could hospitals indeed be looking at financial gains by unscrupulously carrying out Cesarean deliveries, even in cases when it is not required?


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, September 03, 2012

No marks For RK

While she broke-up with Ranbir Kapoor in November 2009 after almost a two-year relationship together, Ranbir left his ‘mark’ on Deepika Padukone through the ‘RK’ that she had got tattooed on the nape of her neck back then. She is planning to rectify this by soon opting for laser-assisted tattoo removal, and this is probably a result of her new-found friendship with Sidhartha Mallya. Do we see an ‘SM’ tattoo in the pipeline?


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, September 01, 2012

The high royalty payment issue

R. C. Bhargava, Chairman of Maruti Suzuki talks to B&E’s Pawan Chabra about competitve threats from foreign players launching better technology cars and the high royalty payment issue.The secret to profits has, and always will remain competitive pricing and satisfied employees, says a Least Worried Bhargava.

B&E: But you can’t deny the fact that over time, foreign players and Tata Motors have managed to chip away Maruti’s market share...
RCB: During the era post economic liberalisation, that Maruti Suzuki had competition like Matiz and Santro. But even then, the company was able to outshine competitors and stay ahead of the pack with a 50%-plus market share. It was around that very time when Maruti and its now partner Suzuki, were negotiating on the renewal of our agreement. During this period, our market share had started falling, and had already fallen below 50%. But after the issue was resolved and the JV agreement was renewed, the company was back on track. Therefore, even though we have recently gone below the 50% market share mark, we will bounce back soon...

B&E: But experts opine that royalty payments will continue to drain your finances even over the coming months. How do you see the situation turning out to be?
RCB: Maruti relies heavily on Suzuki, so the royalty payments are bound to be at a level at which they are standing today. However, with the Rohtak unit set to become operational by 2012, a situation may arise where you will see Suzuki paying the royalty to Maruti for the use of the technology developed at the R&D centre.

B&E: The company has been actively involved in CSR activities of late. How do you connect it with profits?
RCB: My idea of CSR has been to do what makes all the stakeholders happy. We try and do the maximum to our capacity for the society. Then be it the traffic management program on the Gurgaon-Jaipur highway or the tree planting initiative, the company tries to give back to society in whatever ways it can. In fact, we started the water conservation unit at out Gurgaon plant in the 1980s, way before the CSR activities became necessary. Clearly, it was a proactive measure depicting the concern of Maruti Suzuki towards the environment and society. So people might link CSR to higher profits, but we don’t.

B&E: Maruti Suzuki has a very low attrition level. What are the reasons for the high employee satisfaction levels?
RCB: It is because of the processes and policies that we have inculcated into the system over the years. In fact, Suzuki also played a major role in it by bringing many Japanese HR practices into the company that make the employees an integral part of our journey. This keeps them motivated to work for the high profitability of the company. It is only through employee satisfaction that you achieve profits.



Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)