AR Rahman Does India proud

 

This has been a special day for the Indian film industry. But not because ‘Slumdog millionaire’ has won eight Academy Awards at the 81^st Academy Awards ceremony at LA Kodak theater but because of the fact that our very own AR Rahman has won OSCARS for the best Music(song) Jai Ho and best original score.

 

In his thank you speech Rahman said—“Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There's a dialogue from a Hindi film called "Mere paas ma hai," which means "I have nothing but I have a mother," so mother's here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr. Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is... "God is great." Thank you.

 

Also Resul Pookutty wojn the Oscars for the Sound Mixing category alongside Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke. In his acceptance speech Resul gave a special mention to India when he said—“This is unbelievable. We can't believe this. Ladies and gentlemen... sorry... I share the stage with two magicians, you know, who created the very ordinary sounds of Bombay, the cacophony of Bombay, into a soul-stirring, artful resonance called Slumdog Millionaire. 

I come from a country and a civilization that given the universal word. That word is preceded by silence, followed by more silence. That word is "Om." So I dedicate this award to my country. Thank you, Academy, this is not just a sound award, this is history being handed over to me. My sincere and deepest gratitude to my teachers, Danny Boyle, Christian Colson, Paul Ritchie, Pravesh... and everybody who has contributed to this film, Glenn Freemantle and all the sound mixers. I dedicate this to you guys. Thank you, Academy. Thank you very much. 

 

"Slumdog" writer Beaufoy, who adapted the script from Vikas Swarup's novel "Q&A," said there are places he never could imagine being.

"For me, it's the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium, and here," Beaufoy said.

In all, Slumdog Millionaire" has cruised to eight Academy Awards wins including best director for Danny Boyle.

The evening is following the script of earlier Hollywood honors, with "Slumdog Millionaire" steamrolling its way towards the big prize, best picture. The other Oscars for "Slumdog Millionaire" include adapted screenplay, cinematography and both music awards, for score and song.

 

For his demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker, Heath Ledger becomes only the second actor ever to win posthumously, his triumph coming 13 months after his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs on Oscar nominations day last year.

The previous posthumous Oscar recipient was Peter Finch, who won best actor for 1976's "Network" two months after his death.

 

At the start of this piece I said that this is a special day because of Allah Rakha Rahman but not because of Slumdog millionaire in which almost everyone from producer to director, from technicians to distributors were foreigners so why is that the Indian media is going haywire over the ‘Slumdog success’. Of course there is no denying that we all are very proud for AR and we should celebrate his success as our own success but the media is jumping the gun just because there are some familiar faces acting in the movie. The movie has got its own share of critics as well like Amitabh Bachhan who has regret the fact that director Danny Boyle has chosen the slums and the dirty and filthy underbelly of the “Rising India”. So are we too touch to manifest the reality of India and does it make us uneasy when one foreign film director showcases Mumbai riots, beggary rackets, slums and brothels of India or are we mature enough to accept the facts as they are? What do you think?

Abhay Mittal

Courtesy-AP

Satyam Shocker

Misfortunes always comes in twos—that is what perh

aps has been happening to B.Raju and his company satyam.

The chairman of Satyam Computer 

Services B.Ramalinga Raju-India's 4th-biggest software services exporter, announced his resignation on Wednesday, triggering a more than 60 percent drop in the company's share price.

In a statement to the stock exchange,

 B. Ramalinga Raju said Satyam's end-September balance sheet had been overstated. He apologised to staff and shareholders and said he was prepared to face the legal consequences.

The resi

gnation came in just within 24 hours after Forrester backtracked on Satyam and 24 hours prior to the scheduled Board meeting on 10 January.

The benchmark indices have extended losses further due to sharp cut in Satyam. Satyam's board in a press release mentioned that the balance sheet has in

flated cash & bank balance of Rs 5040 crore. The balance sheet has inflated accrued interest of Rs 376 crore in books is non-existent. The stock crashed nearly 50%.

According to press release, Rs 1,230 crore was arranged to Satyam, 

which is not reflected in books. Raju said Merrill Lynch can be entrusted to explore merger options. Ram Mynampati to act as interim CEO.

In a letter to the board members, Raju also said that the company reported inflated revenues over years. 
In reaction

to Raju’s revelations, the stock was hammered by investors and it is down over 48 per cent.

 
He said that he feared takeover due to poor finance performance. Coming clean on financial irregularities, 

he said that the company had Rs 1,230 crore worth of understated liability as of September 30. 

He also revealed that he tried to fill fictitious assets with Maytas deal.
His decision was conveyed to the company’s board members. The company was supposed to hold a board meeting this Saturday.

The company has submitted a copy of a communication sent by Ramalinga Raju, addressed to the Board, with the stock exchanges, capital market regulator SEBI and senior leaders of the company.

Satyam said that it is also in receipt of resignation tendered by Rama Raju, Managing Director of the company who will continue in the position only till such time the current Board is expanded and the continuance is just to ensure enhancement of the Board over the next several days or as early as possible.

Shares of Satyam have tumbled by over 60% to Rs.70. The scrip plunged to an intra-day low of Rs45 after hitting an intra-day high of Rs.188. The stock recorded volumes of over 100million  shares within a span of 45 minutes Wednesday morning, on BSE.

Satyam has informed that DSP Merrill Lynch has terminated its engagement with the company. Merrill Lynch was entrusted with the task of finding a strategic option for the company in the wake of the controversial withdrawal of the plan to acquire two promoter group companies.

Reactions are coming in fast from the various quarters of the Indian IT fraternity, most of which are drenched with the feeling of shock.

CB Bhave, the chairman of Securities and exchange board of India said that, Satyam’s CEO’s open letter to all the affected parties itself does not clarify all the misdoings and the veracity of the letter can’t be vouched for. also the auditors, the independent directors, the banks cannot be washed away with, they also have a lot to answer.

R.K. GUPTA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, TAURUS ASSET MANAGEMENT, NEW DELHI:

"If a company's chairman himself says they built fictitious assets, who do you believe here? Not only Satyam, this has put a question mark on the entire corporate governance system in India. Probably he will face a rigid enquiry. Anyway, things are pretty bad."

V.K. SHARMA, HEAD OF RESEARCH, ANAGRAM STOCK BROKING:

"It reduces confidence (in corporate governance). It's absolutely wretched.

"There is no option right now (for Satyam). People will leave, clients will walk away. It's a very, very dire thing that has happened. There will be question marks raised everywhere."

JIGAR SHAH, SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF KIM ENG SECURITIES:

"I think there is no future for this stock. This case for India is similar to what happened to Enron in the U.S.

Perhaps this the biggest worry. Chairman of NASSCOM Ganesh Natarajan said in his statement on CNBC TV 18, minutes after the ‘Satyam shocker’, that it wont be easy to say that this entire episode would not affect India’s offshoring reputation, keeping in mind that the corporate governance has not always been on the priority of the offshore clients; fortunately or unfortunately. Well, any takers for that?

It’s an interesting twist indeed, as Forrestor was severely critical in its latest report after the Satyam Maytas controversy came out in the open.

But the way Satyam was apparently twisting another report to indicate how Forrestor always said good things about Satyam, is now clearly an embarrassment for both the sides.
The research firm, in its latest report suggests apart from the upheaval on the employee front that unrest amongst the clients is growing and can impact Satyam's business in a big way.

It will not stop at Satyam. Many more companies will come into scrutiny like that. There is a strong possibility investments in India will be affected.

 

News Courtesy: Economic times

NDTV Profit

 --Abhay Mittal--

Someone stop this..

Jammu has been burning for almost 5 weeks now but there has been no signs of government getting out of its deep slumber.





The mass movement in Jammu spearheaded by Amaranth Sangharsh Samiti has catched the attention of domestic media ever since the whole episode started but now even the international media has started reporting the disturbance in the belittled part of Jammu and Kashmir with BBC covering and reporting the daily happenings.



This has been the classic example of government’s indolence with Prime minister Manmohan Singh calling an all party meet almost after a month with millions of rupees worth property has already been incinerated ,on 6 august to address and solve the issue.



The government at the centre was acting like Nero and the government in the state was resorting to preposterous decision one after the other and waiting for the word of wisdom from the bosses in Delhi after they get free from the job of winning the vote of (dis)trust.



This all began with government’s order of demanding the immediate revocation of the government order cancelling the transfer of 40 hectares of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board. The land was meant for creating temporary facilities for pilgrims who trek to the Amarnath shrine every year, braving inclement weather and jihadi attacks.



The land transfer order was revoked after The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference spread three canards: First, the transfer amounted to alienation of 'Kashmiri land'; second, it would lead to intrusion of 'Hindu culture' in Muslim Kashmir; and, third, it would cause ecological damage.
The PDP, sensing an opportunity to revive its pro-separatist -- if not brazenly pro-kashmiri image in the run-up to the assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir, joined the protest and subsequently withdrew from the coalition government. To his credit, CM Azad stood firm and refused to budge from his government's decision, till N Vohra took as Governor, replacing Lieutenant General S K Sinha (retd).



Vohra, in his capacity as ex-officio chairman of the SASB, wrote a letter to Azad, confiscating the land and also offering to relinquish the board's task of organising the annual yatra, thus making the pilgrimage to the Amarnath shrine subordinate to the hapless government’s arrangements.
For all his efforts to appease a particular community in kashmir by ‘returning’ the land that had been allotted for Hindu pilgrims, proved to be a pig in the poke as Vohra was unable to save the Congress-PDP government. The PDP pulled out from the ruling alliance on June 28; on July 1, Azad, obviously under mounting pressure from his party bosses in Delhi, reversed the earlier decision.



The most stupefying part of the tragedy is that the people of Jammu has been let down by the government in the gravest manner possible. The land transfer order was revoked on July 1 after some relatively miniscule protests led by some leftist groups. But the majority of the population of the region,as it seems , has to do something more than lynching the cops or uprooting the rail tracks to make their voices heard or atleast make the government realize not to commit mistake of taking the people of Jammu,or belonging to a particular community, for that matter, for granted .

It is quite necessary to ask at this point of time that has the concept of secularism, in which India is proud of, has atlast failed? In reality the common man of India has always been secular. There has been no riots in J&K in so many decades despite being a muslim majority state. The Amarnath Yatris are looked after by muslim community in Baltal area of kashmir. It is just ths secessionist forces and shrewd political parties exploiting the sentiments of people and converting them into their so called vote banks. When someone talks about Hindu, he is called communal, an when someone talks about Muslim, he is called secular. Quite analogous is the case when someone from Congtress talks about Muslims, he is acclaimed as a secular, but when from BJP pleads for Hindus, he is stamped as a communal. But the fact is that the minorities has always been appeased in India by some political parties by providing all sorts of benefits like reservations in various government and non government organisations,in the guise of secularism, taking the majority for granted.

Years of neglect of Jammu by Kashmir has resulted in what we are seeing today. The people are frustrated and have at last found a platform to vent their pent up anger. The minority appeasement has always been the favorite trump card of congress party but with the people of Jammu almost impervious to their demand this time or perhaps for the first time, the minority appeasement could well prove to be a achilles heel to run up to the upcoming assembly elections.

The incidence has not only polarized the communities in the Jammu and Kashmir but has also given a chance to the right wing factions like VHP to strengthen their presence and ideology in the Jammu region, which alludes to an ominous premonition of the things about to happen in the near future.







Quite astonishingly the ongoing civil war has been not led by any political party, but just by a common cause as is evident from the fact that the mass movement has almost gone out of control of Amaranth Sangharsh Samiti’s hands with more and more people joining in like the doctors, nurses and medical staff of the governments’ hospitals.




Someone if not the government should be able to stop this bedlam before things deteriorate further with Kashmir being heaven and Jammu being inferno.

--Abhay Mittal--
abymittal@gmail.com

India is not 63 years old, but it has been feeling more young and virile than ever before. India rising and the feel good factor may have not worked for some political parties but no one could ignore or gainsay the fact that it was this campaign that spurred the confidence and invigorated the hoi polloi of India. Whether it’s the anti quota scheme of things or Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case protests, the youth is actively indulged in a pro active approach which has made India gate a new symbol of the people’s democracy and the people’s movement. A sense of fearlessness and confidence has been instilled in the pulsating youth of young India.



What is in this youth that make him stand for the justice in the society in the day under the beating sun and thronging the discotheques in the night? The youth here consider education as a worship and people here would skip their meals to send thier kids to schools. The youth of India has been known for its reverence for the elderly but when it comes to his rights and muzzling his speech; he leaves no stone unturned to deliver a befitting reply to the system. This audacity hasn’t come overnight. Post 1991, India has always been on the path of growth; making giant leaps towards the utopia of prosperity, and making it sure that the fruits of the growth are shared uniformally across all sections of the society. A meek Indian has been transformed into assertive and a devouring individual.


Since then India has surprised everyone with its success odyssey in the last decade and a half. India has leapfrogged into a new era where the internet and mobile phones have revolutionized the Indian consumers and corporations. The ever expanding horizons of thinking and imagination are the new trademarks of the global Indian businesses. 30 years back, moving to US was a done thing for IITians and MBAs from IIMs. But the scenario has changed drastically. What really lies in the future? The fact is incontrovertible that India would land in the company of developed nations by 2020. She would infact take over some of European economies like Italy, Germany and Spain and would further move to become the world’s third largest economy by 2040 and second largest by 2050.


There are presently 700 million people under the age of 35, more than twice the population of United States. Today there are 100 million mobile users and more than 70 million internet users in India. With Indians buying nearly 1 million computers every year and computer education an essential part of education, they are becoming intimately familiar with the medium and associated technologies. But it is just the tip of the massive iceberg.
The filing of the tax returns of Americans have been outsourced to India, the education of the American children have been outsourced to India, their legal expertise have been outsourced to India, and their surgeries have too been outsourced to India. So that wont be stretching it too far too say that India is truly becoming the world’s global service centre and Indian economy has been shifting gears from “developing economy” to “rapid developing economy

But how does India feel today? Thomas Freidman, renowned columnist of the New York Times and the author of ‘The World Is Flat’ explains this immaculately.
According to him if one really wants to experience how India is feeling today, one should take a bottle of champagne and shake it for one hour and then take off its cork. You surely won’t like to come in the way of cork. Would you? According to him the 21st century belongs to India. It has been the aspirations and hopes of millions and millions of Indians for the past 60 years that would now thrust the whole world into mystique.For him, INDIA is a MIRACLE.


There are 2 faces of India-one trying to straining at the leash, trying to spring forth to realize all the expectations that the world has shown upon us, the other India is still in leash.


One India says give me a chance let me prove myself, the other India says first prove yourself and may be then you have a chance.
One India lives in the optimism of our hearts, the other India lurks in the skepticism of our minds.
One India wants ,the other India hopes.
One India leads, the other India follows.
These conversions are on the rise. Slowly and slowly more and more people are moving quietly to the confident Indian side, without the world looking at it. This is new India which doesn’t boycott the foreign goods but buys the companies which make them instead. This is a new, pulsating and dynamic India.
History rarely gives a signal about its intentions, but this is the moment when history is taking a turn-this is that moment when history is turning a page. For over half a century now, we have stumbled, ran, corrupted, and sprung, fallen, rolled over but always stood again.
For one India there is a tiny little voice at the back of its head, looking down the bottom of ravine inhesitantly, the other India looks up in the sky and say it is the time to fly.

I am poised,I am rising, I am coming,I am unstoppable ......and its My turn now.
I am India.

50% Reservation 100% Politics

RESERVATION INVESTIGATED

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld 27 per cent reservations for Other Backward Castes (OBC) students in higher educational institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Candidates falling in the ‘creamy layer’ though would not be eligible for the quota.

The creamy layer concept was first introduced by the Supreme Court in the Mandal judgment delivered in November 1992 to indicate an elite group among the Other Backward Classes.
The court had in 1992 asked the government to exclude the `creamy layer' from the purview of quotas to ensure that only the neediest among the OBCs benefited by reservation.
As per the principles laid down in the Mandal judgment, the children of constitutional functionaries including the President, judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, members of the Union Public Service Commission, Groups A and B or Class I or II officers of the All-India Central and State services and children of public sector employees are excluded from reservation.

Persons/Sections Excluded from Reservation which constitute Creamy Layer of the Society:

Sons and daughter(s) of

(a) President of India;

(b) Vice-President of India;

(c) Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts;

(d) Chairman and Members of UPSC and of the State Public Service Commission; Chief Election Commissioner; Comptroller and Auditor-General of India;

(e) Persons holding constitutional positions of like nature.

II. Service CategorySon(s) and daughter(s) of:

(a) parents, both of whom are Class I officers;

(b) parents, either of whom is a Class I officer;

(c) parents, both of whom are Class I officers, but one of them dies or suffers permanent incapacitation;

(d) parents, either of whom is a Class I officer and such parents dies or suffers permanent incapacitation and before such death or such incapacitation has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation like UN, IMF, World bank, etc., for a period of not less than 5 years;

(e) parents, both of whom are Class I officers die or suffer permanent incapacitation and before such death or such incapacitation of the both either of them has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation like UN, IMF, World Bank, etc. for a period of not less than 5 years;

B. Group B/Class II Officers of the Central and State Services (Direct Recruitment)Son(s) and daughter(s) of:

(a) parents, both of whom are Class II officers;

(b) parents of whom only the husband is a Class II officer and he gets into Class I at the age of 40 or earlier;

(c) parents, both of whom are Class II officers and one of them dies or suffers permanent incapacitation and either one of them has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation UN, IMF, World Bank, etc., for a period of not less than 5 years before such death or permanent incapacitation;

(d) parents of whom the husband is a Class I officer (direct recruitment or pre-forty promoted) and the wife is a Class II officer and the wife dies; or suffers permanent incapacitation; and

(e) Parents, of whom the wife is a Class I officer (Direct Recruit or pre-forty promoted) and the husband is a Class II officer and the husband dies or suffers permanent incapacitation;

C. Employees in Public Sector Undertakings, etc. The criteria enumerated in A and B above in this category will apply mutatis mutandis to officers holding equivalent or comparable posts in PSUs, Banks, Insurance Organisations, Universities, etc., and also to equivalent or comparable posts and positions under private employment, pending the evaluation of the posts on equivalent or comparable basis in these institutions, the criteria specified in Category VI below will apply to the officers in these Institutions.

III. Armed forces including Paramilitary Forces (Persons holding civil posts are not included). Son(s) and daughter(s) of parents either or both of whom is or are in the rank of Colonel and above in the Army and to equivalent posts in the Navy and the Air Force and the Paramilitary Forces;

IV. Professional class and those engaged in Trade and Industry.(i) Persons engaged in profession as a doctor,lawyer, chartered accountant, income tax consultant, financial or management consultant, dental surgeon, engineer, architect, computer specialist, film artists and other film professional, author, playwright, sports person, sports professional, media professional or any other vocations of like status.

V. Property OwnersAlso, son(s) and daughter(s) of persons belonging to a family (father, mother and minor children) which owns:(a) only irrigated land which is equal to or more than 85% of the statutory ceiling area, or(b) both irrigated and unirrigated land,


The decision of the Union government to provide for the 27% reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in higher educational institutions including elite institutions like IIT’s and IIM’s , has received a severe criticism as the sordid move caused a widespread consternation among the millions of aspiring and talented youth of the country। They are feeling as if they have been disowned by their own state. The very fact that the move to provide 27 % reservation to OBCs is based on an obsolete data which was collected nearly 7 decades earlier [the last census on the basis of castes was done in 1930s], means that government is trying to use the data which is 70 years old for formulating a policy for the next 35 years of the 21st century.






It was quite normal to see that the anti – quota protests received a plethora of support whether it is from the IMA, alumni and current students of IIT’s and IIM’s and the India INC. The student’s movement against the quota proposal under the banner “Youth for Equality” got an overwhelming support and the myriad followers
who openly expressed the dissatisfaction over the decision as it, according to them would not do our country any good.

Perhaps the basic dilemma to ponder over is “would reservations provide for social justice, as it is claimed to be? “Give it to those who deserve it in the real sense”, should be the punch line for the policy. There has been the provision for the reservations in other countries as well. The reservations are provided to Malays in Malaysia and to Negroes in US, so nobody could actually rule out the role and relevance of reservations in uplifting the oppressed.

But in fact, it has widened the gaps and created a ridge quite difficult to surpass, between various classes. Prior to the entire episode, neither anyone ever thought of his cast nor did anyone ask his freinds’. But now the spirit of the casteism is ominously swooping upon all other sentiments. If the reservations did not prove to be beneficial for the afflicted and the underprivileged section of the society even after 60 years of independence, then there is either something wrong in the policy or its implementation.






Youth has the right to know why they are being punished for the deeds of their forefathers and how long they would have to face the sentence. The reservations were put in place for the 10 years after the independence by the drafting committee but those 10 years have not been quite over yet, as it seems, and there is no chance either in near future.

There are some remedies also in the offing for giving the chance to the underprivileged to join the mainstream. Proper primary education , free coaching and tuitions and letting the OBCs compete with others at par, which would not only provide a fair chance to all but also preclude their own self esteem from getting being hampered. The comprehensive solutions would at least provide some respite in between the strife and would enable to bury the hatchet and lower down the tempo of communal skepticism.




Just as there is a universal immunization against polio, the proper primary education would be performing the same act against the imminent reservation। But what our government trying to do is perhaps “let the oppressed classes have polio and then provide them with the crutches of reservation.”



India is on the verge of a virtual take off to land in the company of some big players of the global economy.

The government ,as it seems has jumped into the murky waters and swooping to a hasty conclusion could lead to the de-mobilization of the talented youth, ready to conquer the world.
The prime reason of disappointment is that merit certificate has taken a place second to the caste certificate.

Feedback-- Abhay Mittal

abymittal@gmail.com